
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 9, 1990                   TAG: 9007090017
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

HANDGUNS USED IN 44 OF MURDERS

An estimated 639,000 Americans are confronted each year by criminals carrying handguns, including 9,200 people who are killed and 15,000 left wounded, according to a report released Sunday.

A Justice Department study of crime statistics covering 1979 through 1987 showed that 44 percent of all people murdered during the nine-year period were killed by assailants wielding handguns.

Guns were used in 7 percent of the rapes, 18 percent of robberies and 22 percent of the aggravated assaults during the period considered by the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The study was based on victims' reports taken by the department's annual National Crime Survey. It did not break down the figures by state or city.

In an average year during the period, there were 9,200 murders, 12,100 rapes, 210,000 robberies and 407,600 assaults committed by criminals with handguns, the Justice Department said. An average of 15,000 people a year are wounded by assailants possessing handguns, the agency said.

Fifty-one percent of the murders and non-negligent manslaughters committed by people with handguns occurred when shots were fired during an argument or a fight, according to the study.

It said also that 25 percent of such killings took place during the commission of another crime.

In an average year, the Justice Department said, approximately 27 percent of the 2.3 million crimes involving weapons of any sort were committed by people with handguns. Other types of guns accounted for 8 percent, or 180,100 of such crimes.

Seventy-two percent of the handgun crimes were committed by people who were strangers to the victim, the department said. Acquaintances carrying guns committed 17 percent of those crimes. Relatives of the victim committed 5 percent of handgun crimes. The other 6 percent were in the "unknown" or "unreported" categories.

Americans living in cities, particularly black men between the ages of 16 and 24, were more likely to encounter criminals armed with handguns, the study said.

by CNB