by Melissa Huelsman

About the author: Melissa Huelsman is a practicing attorney in Southern California.

More than 38,000 people died from gunshot wounds in 1991. The U.S. homicide rate is 8.4 per 100,000 people, which is twice that of France and Germany, four times the rate in Great Britain and seven times higher than Japan’s figures. The weapon of choice in 70% of homicides in 1993 was firearms and the number of violent crimes committed using firearms increased by 55% from 1987 through 1992, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics. Firearm homicides are increasing in all areas, with increases of over 23% between 1987 and 1989 in inner-city and suburban neighborhoods and an 8% increase in rural areas, according to a National Center of Health Statistics study. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms estimates that there are 222 million firearms circulating in the U.S. (compared to a population of approximately...