National violent death reporting system
A broadened reporting system, not only for firearms but for all violent deaths (all suicides and homicides) will provide more useful data, at only a small increased cost. This article summarizes the need for such a surveillance system, and its status as of 8/01.
Publication: Azrael, Deborah; Barber, Catherine; Mercy, James. "Linking Data to Save Lives: Recent Progress in Establishing a National Violent Death Reporting System."
Harvard Health Policy Review. 2001; 2:38-42.
Using a violent death reporting system for policy evaluation
This article highlights the benefits of surveillance systems for various social issues (e.g. economics, crime, public health). It shows the how the additional information provided by a national violent death reporting system can be used for policy evaluation.
Publication: Azrael, Deborah; Barber, Catherine; Hemenway, David; Miller, Matthew. "Data on Violent Injury." In: Jens Ludwig and Philip J. Cook, Eds. Evaluating Gun Policy: Effects on Crime and Violence. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution. 2003.
Data completeness
Using data from surveys of detainees in six jails from around the nation, we worked with a prison physician to determine whether criminals seek hospital medical care when they are shot.
Major Findings: Criminals almost always go to the hospital when they are shot. Statistics on medically treated nonfatal gunshot wounds probably do not substantially underestimate the actual number of nonfatal shootings.
Publication: May, John P; Hemenway, David; "Do Criminals Go to the Hospital When They are Shot? Injury Prevention. 2002: 8:236-238.
Measure of gun accidents
Do the vital statistics provide an accurate count of unintentional firearm deaths? We compared the Supplemental Homicide Report data on "manslaughter by negligence," which are considered to be accidents with the vital statistics data.
Major findings: Only 23% of the negligence manslaughters were classified as accidents on the death certificates. Official vital statistics data almost certainly undercount firearm accident deaths when the victim is shot by another person.
Publication: Barber C, Hemenway D, Hochstadt J, Azrael D. "Underestimates of Accidental Firearm Fatalities: Comparing Supplementary Homicide Report Data with Vital Statistics." Injury Prevention. 2002; 8:252-256
Measures of firearm prevalence
Various proxy measures for the prevalence of firearm ownership were compared with surveys-based estimates.
Major findings: One proxy, the percentage of suicides with a firearm, performed consistently better than other measures in cross-sectional comparisons.
Publication: Azrael, Deborah; Cook, Philip J; Miller, Matthew. "State and Local Prevalence of Firearms Ownership: Measurement, Structure and Trends." Journal of Quantitative Criminology. 2004; 20:43-62. Also see National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper #8570.