Missing the Target: a Comparison of Buyback and Fatality Related Guns

The objective of this study was to determine whether the firearms recovered in buyback programs in a large urban community are the types most closely associated with firearm fatalities in the same geographic area. The type, calibre, & manufacturer of 941 handguns recovered in Milwaukee County 1994-1996 buyback programs were compared with 369 homicide related & 125 suicide related handguns used in Milwaukee during 1994-1997. The authors found that buyback handguns differed substantially from those used in homicide & suicide. (28 refs)