The Gun’s Journey to Crime: Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Repeat Criminal Firearm Use

Research suggests that the longer firearms remain in circulation following their first known use in a crime, the more likely they are to be used in multiple offenses. However, little is known about how repeat-use firearms journey in time and space from one crime to another. This study uses spatially and temporally referenced crime data from Houston, Texas, to address four questions: 1) How far do repeat-use firearms travel between crime incidents? 2) How many days elapse before the same firearm is used again in another crime? 3) Is there a relationship between time and distance for repeat-use firearms? 4) What factors are associated with the distance and time between repeat-use firearm incidents? Results from spatial analysis indicate that the median straight-line distance between matched gun crime cases is 4.33 mi, with a median traveling time of 59 days. Results show a significant relationship between time and distance for repeat-use firearms, even after accounting for initial offense type, including homicide, assault, deadly conduct, robbery, and criminal mischief. Exploratory findings reveal that guns journey faster from one crime to another in more densely populated neighborhoods and when the initial offense is robbery, and that guns first used in robberies tend to travel greater distances between crimes relative to other offense types. Overall, these findings suggest that repeat criminal gun use occurs within a relatively short time frame, that firearms move only short distances between incidents, and that both offense type and local population context are associated with the spatiotemporal movement of repeat-use firearms.