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This U.S. Department of Justice - Bureau of Justice Statistics report discusses the nature and prevalence of violent crime by armed offenders, along with victim consequences, from the age 12 or older, from 1993 - 2001. 

Title: Weapon Use and Violent Crime 1993 - 2001 (United States Document)
Author: U.S. Department of Justice - Bureau of Justice Statistics
Date published: September 2003
Number of pages: 12

The data focuses upon victim characteristics (sex, race and ethnicity, age, and annual household income); victims' injury details; place and time of the violent incident; and homicides involving armed assailants. Figures also show trends on weapon use by offenders.

Key findings

Estimates from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) indicate that between 1993 and 2001:

• From 1993 through 2001 violent crime decreased 54%; weapon violence went down 59%; and firearm violence 63%. 

• Males, American Indians, and Hispanics, the young, and those with the lowest annual household income were most vulnerable to weapon violence in general and firearm violence.

• Approximately half of all robberies, about a quarter of all assaults, and roughly a twelfth of all rapes/sexual assaults involved an armed assailant. About 90% of homicide victims were killed with a weapon.

• Approximately 26% of the average annual 8.9 million violent victimisations were committed by offenders armed with a weapon. 10% of the violent victimisations involved a firearm.

• From 1993 - 2001 the number of murders decreased 36%, while the number of murders by firearms dropped 41%.

• From 1994 - 1999, the years for which data are available, about 7 in 10 murders at school involved some type of firearm, and approximately 1 in 2 murders at school involved a handgun.

• For nonfatal violent crimes, offenders were more likely to have a firearm than a knife or club. From 1993 - 2001 the rate of firearm violence fell 63%

• From 1993 through 2001 blacks accounted for 46% of homicide victims, 54% of victims of firearm homicide, but 12% of the U.S. population.

• For the 9-year period beginning 1993: 

  • 23% of white victims of violence and 36% of black victims were victims of violence involving an offender armed with a weapon.

  • 7% of white victims and 17% of black victims were involved in incidents in which an offender was armed with a gun.

• 45% of all violence with a weapon involved victims between ages 25 and 49, and 38% involved victims between ages 15 and 24. Blacks were about 9 times more likely than whites to be victims of gun-related homicides (25 per 100,000 blacks age 12 or older, versus 3 per 100,000 whites.)

• The likelihood of an injury was the same for victims facing armed and unarmed offenders (26%); serious injury was more likely from armed offenders (7% versus 2%).

Violent Crime Location

The most common locales for armed violence and gun violence were the streets: those away from the victim's home (30% of violence with a weapon, and 35% of gun violence), and those at or near the victim's home (27% of armed violence and 25% of gun violence).

Most violence occurred while the victims were engaged in leisure activities away from home (27% involving a weapon and 27% firearm violence), alongside commuting to work (23% involving a weapon and 25% firearm violence).

Weapons and violent crime

Between 1993 and 2001, about 26% (or an annual average of 2.3 million) of the estimated 8.9 million violent crimes in the United States were committed by offenders armed with

• guns

• knives

• or objects used as weapons.

Definitions of weapons

Firearms include handguns (pistols, revolvers, derringers) and shotguns, rifles, and other firearms (excluding BB and pellet guns and air rifles).
Sharp objects include knives and other sharp edged and/or pointed objects (scissors, ice picks, and axes).
Blunt objects include rocks, clubs, blackjacks, bats, and metal pipes.
Other weapons include ropes, chains, poison, martial arts weapons, BB guns, and objects that could not be classified.

Firearm violence accounted for 10% of all violent crimes; about 6% were committed with a knife or other sharp object such as scissors, ice pick, or broken bottle; 4% with blunt objects such as a brick, bat, or bottle; and 5% were committed with unspecified/ "other" objects used as weapons.

Assaults

This report specifies to the assaults committed to as:
All assaults: represent simple and aggravated assault examined together.
Aggravated assault: an attack or attempted attack with a weapon, regardless of whether an injury occurred and attack without a weapon when serious injury results.
Simple assault: is an attack without a weapon resulting in either no injury or minor injury.

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

The NCVS is the United States primary source on criminal victimisation information. Data is continuously obtained from a nationally representative sample of approximately 43,000 households comprising of nearly 80,000 persons age 12 or older. Household members are asked about the frequency, characteristics, and consequences of victimization. 
The survey enables the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) to estimate the rate of victimisation for: 

• rape

• attempted rape

• sexual assault

• robbery

• assault

• theft

• household burglary

• motor vehicle theft.

Download: Weapon Use and Violent Crime 1993 - 2001 (United States Document) PDF 305kb