
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 7, 1993                   TAG: 9310070124
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

HOMICIDE, HANDGUN LINK FOUND WEAPON IN HOME TRIPLES THE RISK

Instead of increasing protection, a handgun in a home almost triples the chances that someone will be killed there, a study of homicides in three metropolitan areas has found.

"This study is the first to clearly link the risk of homicide to the immediate availability of a gun," said Dr. Arthur L. Kellermann of Emory University in Atlanta, the lead researcher.

"In light of these results, people who are considering buying a gun for protection should think again," he said in an interview, "and families who keep guns in their homes should strongly consider getting them out of the house."

In a report in today's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers said they looked at homicides from August 1987 to August 1992 in Shelby County, Tenn., which includes Memphis, and in King County, Wash., which includes Seattle. Another team looked at murders in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, which includes Cleveland, from January 1990 to August 1992.

Studying 420 homicides that occurred in the homes of the victims, about one-quarter of the total, the researchers found that a majority of victims, 76.7 percent, were killed by a spouse, family member or someone they knew, and that in 85 percent of cases there was no forced entry into the home.

Documented homicides by a stranger accounted for 3.6 percent of the cases, although in 17.4 percent of the cases the identity of the killer was not known.

Gunshot wounds were by far the most common cause of death, killing half, or 49.8 percent, of the victims killed at home.

Even in the 14 percent of cases involving forced entry, which often involved a spouse or other family member, a gun in the home offered little protection, Kellermann said.

The National Rifle Association criticized the findings, saying that a study of homicides could not reflect the effectiveness of guns for personal protection. That is because "99.8 percent of the protective uses of guns do not involve homicides," said Paul H. Blackman, research coordinator for the group. Such uses, he said, would include brandishing a weapon to deter assault, holding an assailant at bay or firing a weapon to wound or frighten off an attacker.

by CNB