NCJ Number
167917
Date Published
1997
Length
33 pages
Annotation
Based on crime guns for which trace requests were submitted to the National Tracing Center (NTC) during the period of July 1, 1996, through April 30, 1997, this report provides statistics on firearms in Washington, D.C., associated with illegal possession or activity.
Abstract
This report is part of the Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative, a 17-city demonstration project aimed at reducing youth firearms violence. For the purpose of this project, a "crime gun" is defined as "any firearm that is illegally possessed, used in a crime, or suspected by enforcement officials of being used in a crime." As part of providing crime gun trace information for a 10-month period, this report contains analyses of requests for crime gun traces; analyses of successful NTC traces; analysis of incomplete traces; and analyses by adult, youth, and juvenile age categories. For the study period, the District of Columbia had 1,959 crime gun trace requests to the NTC; of these, 1,134 (57.89 percent) possessors were identified. A total of 958 requests involved the determination of the possessor's age; there were 433 adult (25 years of age and over) trace requests, 421 youth (18-24 years old) trace requests, and 104 juvenile (17 years old and under) trace requests. An analysis of trace requests by type of firearm shows that the semiautomatic pistol was the most frequently traced firearm for all three age groups: 233 for adults, 266 for youth, and 61 for juveniles. Another table shows the top 10 crime guns requested for tracing by type, manufacturer, and caliber. Firearms offenses was the crime type most often associated with trace requests: 319 for adults, 339 for youth, and 79 for juveniles. The number of successful traces was 194 for adults, 196 for youth, 31 for juveniles, and 741 for all ages. Other data reported show time- to-crime rates for the top 10 crime guns requested for tracing by type, manufacturer, and caliber, as well as the most frequent source-State for successfully traced crime guns; the top State was Virginia for adults, followed by Maryland; Maryland for youth, followed by Virginia; and Maryland for juveniles, followed by Virginia. General findings are discussed for all the participating communities and for local illegal firearms markets.