GunCite: Frequency of Defensive Gun Use in Previous Surveys

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Table 1 FREQUENCY OF DEFENSIVE GUN USE IN PREVIOUS SURVEYS [80]

Survey:	Field	Bordua	Cambridge Reports	DMIa	DMIb	Hart	Ohio
Area:	California	Illinois	U.S.	U.S.	U.S.	U.S.	Ohio
Year of Interview	1976	1977	1978	1978	1978	1981	1982
Population Covered	Noninst. Adults	Noninst. Adults	Noninst. Adults	Registered voters	Registered voters	Registered voters	"Residents"
Gun Type Covered	Handguns	All guns	Handguns	All guns	All guns	Handguns	Handguns
Recall Period:	Ever/1, 2 yrs.	Ever	Ever	Ever	Ever	5 yrs.	Ever
Excluded Uses Against Animals	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Excluded Military, Police Uses?	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Defensive question asked of:	All Rs	All Rs	Protection hgun owners	All Rs	All Rs	All Rs	Rs in hgun households
Defensive question refers to:	Respondent	Respondent	Respondent	Household	Household	Household	Respondent
% Who Used	1.4/3/8.6[a]	5.0	18	15	7	4	6.5
% Who Fired Gun	2.9	n.a.	12	6	n.a.	n.a.	2.6
Implied number of def. gun uses[b]	3,052,717	1,414,544	n.a.	2,141,512	1,098,409	1,797,461	771,043

[80]. FIELD INSTITUTE, TABULATIONS OF THE FINDINGS OF A STUDY OF HANDGUN OWNERSHIP AND ACCESS AMONG A CROSS SECTION OF THE CALIFORNIA ADULT PUBLIC (1976); BORDUA ET AL., supra note 43; CAMBRIDGE REPORTS, supra note 36; DMI (DECISION/MAKING/INFORMATION), ATTITUDES OF THE AMERICAN ELECTORATE TOWARD GUN CONTROL (1979); Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc., supra note 54; Ohio, supra note 36; Quinley, supra note 36; Mauser, supra note 19; the Gallup polls of 1991 and 1993, L.A. Times poll, and Tarrance poll were taken from a search of the DIALOG Public Opinion online computer database.

[Page 183]

Table 1 (continued)

FREQUENCY OF DEFENSIVE GUN USE IN PREVIOUS SURVEYS

Survey:

Time/CNN

Mauser

Gallup

Gallup

L.A. Times

Tarrance

Area:
U.S.

U.S.

U.S.

U.S.

U.S.

U.S.

Year of Interview
1989

1990

1991

1993

1994

1994

Population Covered
"Firearm owners"

Residents

Noninst. Adults

Noninst. Adults

Noninst. Adults

Noninst. Adults

Gun Type Covered
All guns

All guns

All guns

All guns

All guns

All guns

Recall Period:
Ever

5 yrs.

Ever

Ever

Ever

5 yrs.

Excluded Uses Against Animals
No

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

Excluded Military, Police Uses?
Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Defensive question asked of:
Gun owners

All Rs

Rs in hgun hshlds

Gun owners

All

All

Defensive question refers to:
Respondent

Hshld.

Respondent

Respondent

Respondent

Respondent/
Household

% Who Used
n.a.

3.79

8

11

8[c]

1/2[d]

% Who Fired Gun
9-16e

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

Implied number of def. gun uses[b]
n.a.

1,487,342

777,153

1,621,377

3,609,682

764,036

Notes:
[a]. 1.4% in past year, 3% in past two years, 8.6% ever.
[b]. Estimated annual number of defensive uses of guns of all types against humans, excluding uses connected with military or police duties, after any necessary adjustments were made, for U.S., 1993. Adjustments are explained in detail in Kleck (1994).
[c]. Covered only uses outside the home.
[d]. 1% of respondents, 2% of households.
[e]. 9% fired gun for self-protection, 7% used gun "to scare someone."
An unknown share of the latter could be defensive uses not overlapping with the former.

Source: Gary, Kleck and Marc Gertz, "Armed Resistance to Crime: The Prevalence and Nature of Self-Defense with a Gun," Table 1, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 1995, Vol. 86 No. 1.

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Table 1 (continued) FREQUENCY OF DEFENSIVE GUN USE IN PREVIOUS SURVEYS

Survey:	Time/CNN	Mauser	Gallup	Gallup	L.A. Times	Tarrance
Area:	U.S.	U.S.	U.S.	U.S.	U.S.	U.S.
Year of Interview	1989	1990	1991	1993	1994	1994
Population Covered	"Firearm owners"	Residents	Noninst. Adults	Noninst. Adults	Noninst. Adults	Noninst. Adults
Gun Type Covered	All guns	All guns	All guns	All guns	All guns	All guns
Recall Period:	Ever	5 yrs.	Ever	Ever	Ever	5 yrs.
Excluded Uses Against Animals	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
Excluded Military, Police Uses?	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Defensive question asked of:	Gun owners	All Rs	Rs in hgun hshlds	Gun owners	All	All
Defensive question refers to:	Respondent	Hshld.	Respondent	Respondent	Respondent	Respondent/ Household
% Who Used	n.a.	3.79	8	11	8[c]	1/2[d]
% Who Fired Gun	9-16e	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Implied number of def. gun uses[b]	n.a.	1,487,342	777,153	1,621,377	3,609,682	764,036

Notes: [a]. 1.4% in past year, 3% in past two years, 8.6% ever. [b]. Estimated annual number of defensive uses of guns of all types against humans, excluding uses connected with military or police duties, after any necessary adjustments were made, for U.S., 1993. Adjustments are explained in detail in Kleck (1994). [c]. Covered only uses outside the home. [d]. 1% of respondents, 2% of households. [e]. 9% fired gun for self-protection, 7% used gun "to scare someone." An unknown share of the latter could be defensive uses not overlapping with the former.