Title: Gun Homicide Rate Down 49% Since 1993 Peak; Public Unaware | Pew Research Center
Headings: Gun Homicide Rate Down 49% Since 1993 Peak; Public Unaware
Gun Homicide Rate Down 49% Since 1993 Peak; Public Unaware
Pace of Decline Slows in Past Decade
Note
Chapter 1: Overview
Knowledge About Crime
What is Behind the Crime Decline?
U.S. Firearm Deaths
U.S. Firearm Crime Victimization
U.S. Other Non-fatal Crime
Context
About the Data
Roadmap to the Report
Notes on Terminology
Acknowledgments

Content: Looking back 50 years, the U.S. gun homicide rate began rising in the 1960s, surged in the 1970s, and hit peaks in 1980 and the early 1990s. ( The number of homicides peaked in the early 1990s.) The plunge in homicides after that meant that firearm homicide rates in the late 2000s were equal to those not seen since the early 1960s. 1 The sharp decline in the U.S. gun homicide rate, combined with a slower decrease in the gun suicide
rate, means that gun suicides now account for six-in-ten firearms deaths, the highest share since at least 1981. Trends for robberies followed a similar long-term trajectory as homicides ( National Research Council, 2004 ), hitting a peak in the early 1990s before declining. This report examines trends in firearm homicide, non-fatal violent gun crime victimization and non-fatal violent crime victimization overall since 1993. Its findings on firearm crime are based mainly on analysis of data from two federal agencies. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, using information from death certificates, are the source of rates, counts and trends for all firearm deaths, homicide and suicide, unless otherwise specified. The Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey, a household survey conducted by the Census Bureau, supplies annual estimates of non-fatal crime victimization, including those where firearms are used, regardless of whether the crimes were reported to police. Where relevant, this report also quotes from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports (see text box at the end of this chapter and the Methodology appendix for more discussion about data sources).