Small arms, major transgressions: Exploring homicidal deaths by firearms in city of Faisalabad, Pakistan.

Abstract

Objectives: To analyze the data regarding prevalence of homicidal deaths due to firearm. Study Design: Descriptive, Observational, Retrospective study. Setting: Postmortem unit of Allied Hospital Faisalabad. Period: From January 1st, 2017 to December 31st, 2017. Material & Methods: After approval, data was obtained from the duplicate copies of autopsy reports kept at the postmortem unit of Allied Hospital Faisalabad. The data was then entered on a pre-designed Performa. Results: During the year 2017, 80 cases of firearm were autopsied at the postmortem unit of Allied Hospital, Faisalabad, of which 78 were homicidal. Out of 78 cases autopsied, 67 (85.9%) were males & 11(14.1%) were females. The fatality rate was highest (46.2%) between 21-40 years whereas; the least affected age group was > 60 years (10.3%). Multiple body parts were mostly affected, the percentage being 47.4%. It is worth mentioning that out of 78 cases only one victim was shot by smooth bored weapon (1.3%) while rest of them were hit by Rifled weaponries (98.7%). Most of the demises occurred at crime scenes which were more common during Morning & Evening between the months of October to March. There is a significant association between cause of death with region of body affected in our study. Conclusion: Unfortunately, productive age group of our society is more exposed to gunshots with multiple regions enclosing vital organs of body are mostly inflicted.

Non-fatal firearm injuries, Incidence and Circumstances: Presenting in DHQ Hospital Rawalpindi

“…Most injuries occurred in the lower limb, abdomen, and pelvis. In other research, the head and chest were the most impacted bodily parts (19) As a result of the GCS score, the ISS score, and the length of hospital stay, the injuries were judged to be mild. However, caution should be exercised when drawing inferences from these findings, as the severity of firearm-related wounds relies largely on the distance from the shooter and whether a plastic pellet has been embedded in the wound ( 12) Since the study was conducted in only one location it is difficult to extrapolate the data and compute firearm injury rates in our population.…”