Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (Northwestern)
77 (1986): 504.
Posted for Educational use only. The printed edition remains canonical. For citational use please visit the local law library or obtain a back issue.

ARMED AND CONSIDERED DANGEROUS: A SURVEY OF FELONS AND THEIR FIREARMS.
By James D. Wright and Peter H. Rossi. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1986. Pp. ix, 247. $36.95 cloth, $14.95 paper.

In many areas of public policy, legislatures have acted on the basis of only a sketchy understanding of the underlying social and economic dynamics. After their 1983 review and analysis of the literature, Wright and Rossi felt this was clearly the case with gun control legislation.1 Armed and Considered Dangerous is a report on Wright and Rossi's attempt to provide some policy-relevant information on felons and their firearms.

The authors surveyed almost 2,000 convicted male felons in eleven prisons in ten states. States, prisons and prisoners were selected primarily on the basis of availability. The subjects, however, were fairly typical representatives of the population of imprisoned felons in the United States, in terms of demographic characteristics such as race, age and education.

Approximately 39% of the sample had never used a weapon in committing a crime. Eleven precent [sic] used weapons other than firearms, and one-half had used a gun at least once. Surprisingly, however, among the handgun users, only 14% owned a "Saturday Night [Page 505] Special" (SNS). Preference for such pistols was strongest among those who rarely or never committed crimes with handguns. As the authors put it: "[s]erious criminals preferred serious equipment" (P. 180).

The survey asked dozens of questions, including many dealing with where, how and why these felons obtained guns. For instance, 76% reported that they obtained their most recent handgun instate, but only one in six acquired his handgun through a legitimate retail outlet. Almost one-third reported personally stealing their most recent handgun. Homes and cars were the most frequently mentioned places from which guns were stolen.

The authors estimated that the convicts in this study had stolen 30,000 firearms during their careers, and that the probability that the most recent handguns owned by this sample had been stolen at some point was somewhere between .4 and .7. Further, the market in stolen guns was apparently integrated into the general criminal market in stolen goods and drugs.

Although most convicts were aware of federal and state laws that prohibited felons from acquiring firearms, few anticipated much trouble in acquiring a handgun after release from prison. In addition, most felt they could evade partial or total handgun bans by changing to other firearms. It is thus not surprising that a majority of these convicts, like a majority of the public, agree that "gun laws affect only law-abiding citizens; criminals will always be able to get guns" (pp. 2 10-11).

When asked what they would do if SNS's were not available, a majority of those who had used firearms in crimes said they would move up to bigger and more lethal handguns or to sawed-off shotguns. If no handguns of any kind were available, a majority of these same individuals would find a substitute in sawed-off shotguns. This appeared to be no idle threat; 50% of those who said they would switch to a shotgun had shortened one at some point in their-lives.

In the final portions of Armed and Considered Dangerous, the authors discuss some of the policy implications of their results. Because stolen guns are a major source of weapons for criminals, Wright and Rossi urge that something more be done about firearm theft. Among the options they discuss are public education and increased penalties for stealing firearms.

Wright and Rossi's conclusions about current handgun control proposals are not optimistic. Given possible weapon substitution and the difficulty in penetrating illegal markets, the major effects of strict handgun control policies will fall more on the ordinary gun [Page 506] owner than on the criminal. Such policies may also weaken some of the crime-thwarting effects of civilian gun ownership.

Handgun or SNS bans may cause an unanticipated increase in levels of homicide and serious injury as many criminals substitute more lethal weapons. Wright and Rossi caution that sweeping "'solutions' that are implemented before the problem is reasonably well understood rarely solve anything" (p. 238).

Although Armed and Considered Dangerous is not free of methodological problems, it is the best policy-oriented study of criminals and their guns available. Gun control proposals that seemed relatively straight-forward a few years ago must now be reconsidered. The "gun lobby" may not be the only obstacle to be surmounted.

Wright and Rossi do not claim to have found any easy answers; they have, however, enhanced our understanding of a complex arid difficult policy area.

Raymond G. Kessler
Department of Criminal Justice
Memphis State University

1. J. WRIGHT, P. ROSSI & K. DALY, UNDER THE GUN (1983).