Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (8)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Webster, D. W.
Right arrow Articles by Hepburn, L. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Webster, D. W.
Right arrow Articles by Hepburn, L. M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 155, No. 5 : 406-412
Copyright © 2002 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Effects of Maryland's Law Banning "Saturday Night Special" Handguns on Homicides

Daniel W. Webster, Jon S. Vernick and Lisa M. Hepburn

From the Center for Injury Research and Policy and the Center for Gun Policy and Research, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD.

Small, inexpensive, often poorly made handguns known as "Saturday night specials" are disproportionately involved in crime. Maryland banned the sale of Saturday night specials effective January 1, 1990. During the 2 years between the law's passage in 1988 and its effective date, legal handgun sales in Maryland were 34% higher than expected (p = 0.09). Interrupted time-series analysis of age-adjusted homicide rates for 1975–1998 with statistical controls for trends in two neighboring states, social and economic variables, and temporal patterns in Maryland's homicide rates was used to assess the effect of the law. Estimates of the Saturday night special ban effects depended on the assumption made about the timing of the law's effects. Models that assumed a delayed or gradual effect of the Saturday night special ban produced estimates indicating that firearm homicide rates were 6.8–11.5% lower than would have been expected without the Saturday night special ban (p <= 0.05). The model that assumed an immediate, constant change in response to the law showed no law effect, unless an outlier was excluded from the analysis. Excluding this outlier, the model estimated a 15% increase in firearm homicides associated with the Saturday night special ban. None of the models revealed significant law effects on nonfirearm homicides.

evaluation studies; firearms; homicide; violence

Abbreviations: AR, autoregressive; ARIMA, autoregressive integrated moving average


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Inj. Prev.Home page
M Rosengart, P Cummings, A Nathens, P Heagerty, R Maier, and F Rivara
An evaluation of state firearm regulations and homicide and suicide death rates
Inj. Prev., April 1, 2005; 11(2): 77 - 83.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.