§ Mr. MilburnTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many homicides involved(a) shotguns and (b) other firearms in each year since 1979; and how many involved people under 16 years.
§ Mr. Sackville[holding answer 7 July 1993]: The information relating to registered deaths is shown in table 1.
For further information, the Coroners (Amendment) Rules 1977 now allow for death registration in cases where an inquest is adjourned because a person has been charged with an offence in connection with the death; these cases are known as accelerated registrations. The correct external cause of injury, for example, "Assault by firearms and explosives" cannot, however, except in those cases relating to transport accidents, be determined until any criminal proceedings are concluded. Consequently, all non-transport accelerated registrations are assigned to the external cause of injury code E988.8—injury by other specified means, undetermined whether accidentally or purposely inflicted—until results of proceedings are known and the death can be reassigned to the correct external cause code—E code.
Homicides are one of the categories most affected by this legislation. Accordingly, for each of the years 1979–92 there are a number of deaths that are the result of the use 411W of a firearm but which as a consequence of the rules do not appear in table 1. Table 2 shows the number of deaths assigned—at the outcome of criminal proceedings—to a broad group of causes which includes "Assault by firearms and explosives". It is not, however, possible to specifically
Table 1 Numbers of registered deaths from homicides involving firearms (ICD E965) in England and Wales, 1979 to 1992 Year Shotgun Handguns Hunting rifle Military firearm Other firearm Total excluding shotguns Total including shotguns (E965.1) (E965.0) (E965.2) (E965.3) (E965.4) All ages under 16s All ages under 16s All ages under 16s All ages under 16s All ages under 16s All ages under 16s All ages under 16s 1979 19 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 3 18 3 37 5 1980 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 13 0 19 0 1981 3 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 5 0 10 0 13 0 1982 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 2 16 2 26 2 1983 21 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 1 13 1 34 3 1984 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 31 4 31 4 43 4 1985 8 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 0 15 0 23 2 1986 17 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 28 7 29 7 46 7 1987 9 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 30 2 32 2 41 2 1988 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 0 16 0 28 0 1989 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 10 0 18 0 1990 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 2 17 2 27 2 1991 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 0 15 0 27 0 1992 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 24 5 24 5 34 5
Table 2. Causes to which accelerated registrations in injury by other specified means, undetermined whether accidentally or purposely inflicted (ICD E988.8) were eventually assigned, 1980–90 England and Wales Year Other accidental deaths E880 to E928 Suicide and self-inflicted injury E950 to E959 Assault by firearms and explosives E965 Injury undetermined whether accidentally or purposely inflicted E980 to E989 1980 1 — 1 2 1981 1 — 10 — 1982 3 — 12 — 1983 3 — 9 — 1984 1 — 14 — 1985 — — 12 — 1986 1 — 9 — 1987 2 1 19 — 1988 3 — 14 — 1989 — — 8 1 1990 1 — 9 — Figures for 1979, 1991 and 1992 are not readily available.