NCJ Number
91062
Journal
Journal of Police Science and Administration Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1983) Pages: 275-281
Date Published
1983
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This study asked police-officer respondents to express the extent of their agreement or disagreement with a variety of statements on handgun control, ranging from methods designed to control the possession and ownership of handguns by private citizens to the effectiveness of current gun laws as a crime deterrent.
Abstract
The study samples used consisted of police officers of various ranks and length of service in an agency in Utah and one in Illinois. The majority of the 205 respondents were white males over 30 years-old and having 9 or more years of law enforcement experience. The majority were patrol officers. The respondents lent varying degrees of support to such regulatory methods of handgun control as background investigations for prospective purchasers, time delays between the sale and actual receipt of a handgun, and the mandatory completion of a firearms safety course prior to the purchase of a handgun. There was little support for an outright ban on handgun ownership by private citizens, and there was no consensus support for programs requiring the mandatory registration of all handguns. A majority of the Illinois respondents favored the mandatory registration of all handguns, while a clear majority of the Utah sample opposed such a requirement. Moreover, the Utah respondents typically demonstrated less enthusiasm for any of the handgun control measures compared to the Illinois respondents. Few of the respondents believed that current gun laws and their accompanying sanctions deter offenders from obtaining or using handguns illegally. Tabular data and eight references are provided.