cuchulainn
Member
Odd that this came out the same day as the incident at Congress.
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d031135r.pdf
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d031135r.pdf
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Results in Brief
Our study disclosed that scant data exist on the incidence of crimes, injuries, or deaths involving toy guns and on the long-term effects that childhood play with toy guns may have on individuals. Available data on crimes involving toy guns are dated and insufficient for providing a national perspective. Also, databases that collect information from hospital emergency rooms and other sources regarding product-related injuries and deaths generally are not designed to capture information about incidents involving toy guns. Thus, the relatively few cases of such incidents that were recorded in these databases probably do not represent an accurate or comprehensive reporting. Finally, our literature search found no publications or studies specifically addressing the long-term effects of childhood play with toy guns.
Crimes Involving the Use of Toy Guns
In response to our inquiries, officials at three of the Department of Justice components we contacted—the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the National Institute of Justice; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation—said they had no information about crimes involving the use of toy guns. Generally, the only data we found regarding the use of toy guns in crimes are presented in a June 1990 report—Toy Guns: Involvement in Crime & Encounters With Police—prepared by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), under a cooperative agreement with BJS.1 In response to our inquiry, in June 2003, BJS informed us the agency has no current plans to sponsor or undertake a follow-up study to update the 1990 report.
In conducting its study, PERF surveyed 699 state and local law enforcement agencies and received 458 usable responses (a response rate of 66 percent). PERF’s report does not include information on whether the nonrespondents differed in significant ways from the respondents. Without such information, it is not possible to determine if the lack of response from 34 percent of the agencies distorted the findings.
Among other questions, the survey solicited information on the number of robberies and assaults that involved the use of toy guns during the period January 1, 1985, to September 1, 1989. According to PERF, police department reporting systems typically are not coded to identify the involvement of imitation or toy guns in crimes. As a result, most responding agencies provided information from either a manual records check or a solicitation of information from officers. Relying on officers’ memories may have resulted in either an under- or over-reporting of incidents involving toy guns. For the period January 1, 1985, to September 1, 1989,
• 148 law enforcement agencies (32 percent of the 458 usable responses) reported a total of 2,796 robberies committed with the use of toy guns and
• 121 law enforcement agencies (26 percent of the 458 usable responses) reported a total of 3,104 assaults committed with the use of toy guns.
As a collateral issue, PERF also reported that—for the period January 1, 1985, to September 1, 1989—law enforcement agencies seized a total of 10,065 toy guns. According to PERF, this total does not include guns that were stolen property. Rather, the total consists only of those toy guns that were directly or indirectly involved in an incident—such as robbery, assault, domestic disturbance, suspicious person, etc.—where the police took some form of action.
The PERF researchers concluded that insufficient data were available to clearly determine whether the use of toy guns to commit crimes was a serious problem, particularly in comparison to all crimes of violence and police-involved shootings throughout the nation. As noted above, two factors—response rate issues and concerns about the reliability of information based to some extent on officers' recall of incidents—result in reservations about the findings. Enclosure II presents more details about PERF’s report.
Injuries or Deaths Involving Toy Guns
One way an injury or death could occur is for a police officer to mistake a toy gun for a real firearm. As part of PERF’s survey, researchers asked law enforcement agencies to report the number of incidents where officers had used actual force (deadly or less than deadly) based on the belief that a toy gun was real. For the study period (Jan. 1, 1985, to Sep. 1, 1989), 31 law enforcement agencies (7 percent of the 458 usable responses) reported a total of 105 applicable incidents where officers had used actual force, either deadly or less than deadly (see table 3 in enc. II). PERF’s report did not specify how many of the 105 incidents resulted in injuries nor how many resulted in deaths.
To further determine the availability of information on incidents involving toy guns that have resulted in injuries or deaths, whether or not related to criminal activity, we contacted two federal agencies—CPSC and CDC—that have databases with information on health and/or safety issues. At our request, CPSC officials reviewed the agency’s three major databases that provide information on product-related hazards, and the officials reported the following to us:
• National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. This system collects information and provides national estimates on the number of victims treated in hospital emergency rooms for product-related injuries. The entire system includes 98 hospitals reporting almost 700,000 cases each year. For the period January 2000 to July 2003, the database showed 301 incidents of injuries that resulted from many hazard patterns involving toy guns, including children swinging or throwing toy guns. According to CPSC, the 301 incidents encompass the broad category of toy guns—not just the limited category of replica guns. CPSC’s review of about 100 of these incidents that involved victims aged 10 years or older disclosed no injury incidents in which police officers mistook toy guns for real firearms.
• Death Certificate System. This database contains records of death certificates for product-related deaths from each of the 50 states. The database excludes data on firearm-related deaths but may record deaths involving toy guns not caused by a firearm. For the most recent 10 years (1993 through 2002), the database showed no cases of deaths involving toy guns or situations where police officers mistook toy guns for real firearms.
Incident Data Base. This data file contains records of cases received from news clips, medical examiner reports, consumer complaints, and reports from other sources. For the most recent 10 years (1993 through 2002), the data file showed four cases of individuals being fatally shot by police officers who mistook toy guns for real firearms.
CPSC officials told us that these statistics on police shootings involving toy guns likely represent an undercounting of such incidents. The officials explained that CPSC would not generally collect data on police shootings because the agency’s focus is on consumer product issues rather than firearms.
CDC is a data contributor and has inquiry access to CPSC’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. At our request, CDC officials reviewed the system’s database. For the 1 year reviewed (2001), the officials reported identifying 66 incidents involving toy guns. Of these 66 incidents, the majority (62) involved individuals 0 to 19 years of age, and the remaining 4 incidents occurred among the over-19 age group.
According to the CDC officials, of the 62 incidents among individuals 0 to 19 years old, 57 incidents involved unintentional injuries, such as choking on a toy gun part or being hit with toy gun or projectile part. The other 5 incidents apparently were reported to the police as being assaults and involved children hitting other children with a toy gun while fighting or engaging in rough play. CDC officials described these 5 incidents as follows:
• A 13-year old child was hit on head with a plastic gun.
• A 12-year old female was hit on the elbow by a toy gun.
• A 12-year old male was injured in a fight involving a toy gun.
• A 7-year old was poked in the right eye with a plastic gun.
• An individual was struck on the head by a toy gun.
Also, CDC officials told us that the agency’s National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS)—being designed to collect information on all violent deaths, including those involving toy guns—was not yet operational. The officials referred us to Harvard University’s National Violent Injury Statistics System (NVISS), which is a pilot program for CDC’s NVDRS and encompasses 12 sites nationwide.2 The codirector of the pilot program told us that the NVISS database contained information for 2 years (2000 and 2001) but does not include a variable to facilitate an electronic search for injuries or deaths involving toy gun incidents. Nevertheless, the co-director responded to our questions based on her knowledge of the database and her review of the more recent year’s (2001) data for 7 sites—Connecticut, Maine, Wisconsin, Utah, San Francisco, Miami-Dade County, and Allegany County. For the 2001 data, the co-director reported finding no deaths involving toy guns. In addition, the co-director did not recall seeing any toy gun-related deaths in the first year’s (2000) data.
Our literature search found that, in 1987, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Accident and Poison Prevention issued a policy statement, which said that, “The main hazard presented by nonprojectile toy guns is that children who play with them may inadvertently be drawn to playing with real weapons which they mistake for toys.â€3 The policy statement recommended that pediatricians counsel parents concerning the hazards of having toy guns in the house.
Long-Term Effects of Childhood Play with Toy Guns
Our literature search of social science, scientific, educational, crime and justice, and other journals and publications disclosed no authoritative study on the possible long-term effects on individuals of childhood play with toy guns. Generally, the literature discussed numerous possible causes of aggressive behavior, including exposure to violence in video games and television, and did not focus specifically on childhood play with toy guns.
One exception we found was a 1992 Brandeis University study, entitled “The Relation Between Toy Gun Play and Children’s Aggressive Behavior.â€4 The study was based on a small number of preschoolers in one daycare center and found limited evidence that toy gun play was associated with increased real aggression and with decreased pretend aggression in free-play settings. However, due to the small number of children involved, all from one location and in one setting, the results are not generalizable to other children. Further, the analytical method used may have overstated the significance of the association between toy gun play and aggression. In addition, the study did not examine whether longer-term associations between toy gun play and future aggression are likely.
Furthermore, we contacted the senior scientific editor of a 2001 report—Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General—to discuss the extent, if any, that the study addressed or considered the long-term impacts attributable to toy gun play by children.5 This individual said that the Surgeon General’s study focused on violence involving real firearms and did not consider toy gun issues. He expressed unawareness of any research on the long-term effects of childhood play with toy guns.
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