The Relationship Between Firearm Design and Firearm Violence

IN 1994, an estimated 39720 persons died from firearm-related injuries.1 Firearms now rank a close second to motor vehicles as a cause of traumatic death nationwide. This convergence results not so much from an increase in the firearm\x=req-\ related death rate, which has remained relatively stable for the past 15 years, as from a steady decrease in the death rate from motor vehicle injuries.2 That decrease stems in large part from an explicit focus on the contribution to motor vehicle death rates made by the design and marketing of motor vehicles themselves.3,4 The purpose of this article is to help extend that product-oriented focus to the prevention of firearm-related injuries and violence by identifying those trends in the design and marketing of firearms that affect rates of firearm\x=req-\ related injury and violence or appear likely to do so in the near future. Many authors have argued that such an approach, building on its clear success in preventing motor vehicle injuries, would be of significant benefit.59 It is not the intent of this article to advocate a par¬ ticular product-based policy agenda, but rather to inform the policymaking process. The main focus will be on hand¬ guns, which are disproportionately in¬ volved in firearm violence.