The study, published in the Sept. 30 issue of JAMA (Journal
of the American Medical Association) Internal Medicine, found that 9
percent of legal handgun purchasers with previous DUI convictions were arrested
for murder, rape, robbery or aggravated assault.
“This is compared to 2 percent of purchasers with no
prior criminal history at the time of purchase,” wrote Rose M.
C. Kagawa, assistant professor of emergency medicine at the
University of California Davis, and lead author of the study.
“When we compared purchasers who only had DUI
convictions and no other arrests or convictions with those who had no criminal
history, a DUI conviction was associated with more than double the risk of
future arrest for a violent crime.”
Kagawa and her team of researchers looked at criminal
records of 78,878 California handgun purchasers between 2001 and 2013, using
the California Department of Justice Dealer’s Record of Sale database.
The research built on earlier studies by the UC Davis
Violence Prevention Program which associated risky alcohol use with arrests for
violent crimes.
“Alcohol use is a well-established risk factor for
firearm violence,” said Kagawa, “Our study suggests that handgun purchasers
with a DUI conviction on their record at the time of purchase have a higher
incidence of future violence and crime compared to purchasers without DUI
convictions.”
Lending further weight to its conclusions, the study
cited an earlier meta-analysis of research involving homicide offenders which
indicated that an estimated 34 percent of people who committed homicide with a
firearm were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crime.
The researchers noted that the federal government and
many states restrict the purchase and possession of firearms by members of
high-risk groups, including persons convicted of felonies, domestic violence
misdemeanors, and other violent misdemeanors.
“Comparable benefits may arise from similar
restrictions on persons convicted of DUI crimes,” they wrote.
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