A ground-breaking profile of criminal gun activity in Sacramento was released today by researchers at the University of California, Davis. Analyzing all the firearms the Sacramento police confiscated in 1995, researchers from the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program were able to identify several factors critical to understanding and intervening in the role guns play in crime in the state capital. Included in the study were details about the guns, the suspects, the crimes and the neighborhoods where police found the guns. The study confirms that existing databases on confiscated guns are rich sources of reliable information and provides a model for other communities interested in better understanding and curbing local criminal gun activity. Although the study is based on gun confiscations from 1995, the most recent year for which statistics were available at the beginning of the project, the results still offer an accurate reflection of current criminal gun use in Sacramento. "Until now, law enforcement agencies, policy-makers and residents in virtually every city in California have had only anecdotal evidence of the illegal and violent use of firearms in their communities," said researcher Ellen Robinson-Haynes, who conducted the study with firearms violence prevention researcher Dr. Garen Wintemute, an emergency department physician and professor with the UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center. "This study shows how information about the guns confiscated by law enforcement agencies can provide a unique and valuable tool for identifying criminal gun activity and developing effective and finely honed strategies to reduce firearms violence in areas that are at greatest risk," Robinson-Haynes said. This profile is of particular interest in light of Sacramento's exceptional crime rate. In 1995 -- the focus year for the study -- Sacramento's crime rate was higher than nearly every city of comparable size or larger in California. The capital city ranked 10th in the nation among regions most at risk for car thefts and its crime rate outpaced that of larger metropolises such as Dallas, Houston and even New York City. "Guns were used in nearly three-fourths of the city's murders in 1995," said Robinson-Haynes, "as well as in an unspecified number of robberies, assaults and other violent crimes. "It is imperative that we know all we can about criminal gun use in order to stem the tide of violence in our city." The study painted the following picture of criminal guns and their users in Sacramento during 1995: * Nearly three of every four crime guns confiscated in the city were handguns, and .22 caliber pistols and revolvers were those most commonly confiscated. * Of those crime guns for which police reported complete information, nearly half -- 46 percent -- were cheaply made "Saturday night specials," also known as junk guns. * Most confiscated crime guns had no ownership record. Few were listed in the state's Automated Firearms System or had a Dealer's Record of Sale, a document requiring that the seller be federally licensed and that the buyer pass a background check. This implies that a major source of Sacramento's crime guns is the illicit gun market. * Of those with complete sales records, two out of every five were found to be stolen. * Nearly half of those from whom police confiscated guns were between 12 and 24, an age group that comprises only 21 percent of Sacramento's population. The younger the subjects, the more likely they were to be found with small-caliber handguns. * While gun charges such as carrying a concealed firearm without a permit were the most common among crimes among all age groups found with guns, both drug and violence charges increased in frequency with age. Drug charges, for example, were five times more common among those over 35 than among those who were 12 to 17 years old. * The incidence of domestic violence involving guns also increased with age. Among those 35 years and older from whom police confiscated guns, domestic violence was the most common charge. * While guns were confiscated in 85 of the city's 86 census tracts, North Sacramento and the East Broadway area southeast of central Sacramento had the highest rates of crime gun confiscations. * Poverty was the key to an area's criminal gun activity, with economic status the most potent predictor. The Sacramento gun confiscation study is the latest in a series of reports by the Violence Prevention Research Program, directed by Wintemute, who is known nationwide for his research into the epidemiology of gun violence. "This study highlights certain age groups of individuals and areas of Sacramento that are at greatest risk for criminal gun use, and therefore can help focus future violence intervention programs," said Wintemute. "But to effectively reduce criminal firearms activity we need even more answers to questions regarding the profile of gun use in our communities. It is prudent, economically and in terms of public safety, to invest our resources in preventing firearm violence as well as in treating its victims." The confiscated gun study was funded in part by the California Wellness Foundation. More information on the Violence Prevention Research Program is available on the Web at http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/research/vprp/index.html.