AN EXAMINATION IS PRESENTED OF THE GENERAL PROPOSITION THAT A DECREASE IN THE AVAILABILITY OF FIREARMS WILL LEAD TO LOWERED RATES OF VIOLENT INJURY AND DEATH. THIS INVESTIGATION INVOLVED A CONSIDERATION OF THE ARGUMENTS ADVANCED BY THE ADVOCATES AND OPPONENTS OF GUN CONTROL LEGISLATION CONCERNING THE MAIN CAUSAL FACTORS LEADING TO VARIATION IN HOMICIDE RATES AND THE EXAMINATION OF DATA FROM BOTH AMERICAN AND INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE STUDIES, IN AN EFFORT TO CLARIFY THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THESE DIFFERING CAUSAL FACTORS AND TO ARRIVE AT AN ESTIMATE OF THE POTENTIAL UTILITY OF GUN CONTROL MEASURES. THE AMERICAN COMPARATIVE DATA DID NOT SEEM TO PROVIDE AN ADEQUATE BASIS FOR ARRIVING AT A CONCLUSION; ONE OF THE TWO CAUSAL FACTORS BEING COMPARED -- THE AVAILABILITY OF GUNS -- ONLY EXHIBITED A SMALL RANGE OF ITS POSSIBLE VARIATION. THE INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS, HOWEVER, DID INCLUDE WIDE VARIATION IN BOTH FORMS OF CAUSAL VARIABLES, AND WITHIN THIS CONTEXT IT WAS IMPLIED THAT VARIATIONS IN THE AVAILABILITY OF FIREARMS HAVE A SIGNIFICANT INDEPENDENT EFFECT UPON HOMICIDE RATES, AND THAT GUN CONTROL -- ESPECIALLY DOMESTIC DISARMAMENT - CAN REDUCE THE AMERICAN RATES OF DEATH AND INJURY. WITH THIS GENERAL INDICATION OF THE UTILITY OF GUN CONTROL MEASURES IN MIND, SPECIFIC CATEGORIES OF GUN USE IN THE U.S., WERE CONSIDERED. IN LIGHT OF THE PROBABLE COST AND BENEFITS OF VARYING DEGREES OF GUN CONTROL (IN TERMS OF EACH GROUP'S FORM OF GUN USE AND ITS ASSOCIATED DANGERS), IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT A HIGHLY RESTRICTIVE APPROACH TO THE DIFFERENT CATEGORIES OF GUN USERS COULD ACHIEVE THE SAME BENEFITS OF CRIME REDUCTION, WITH MUCH LOWER COSTS TO THE NONCRIMINAL GUN USER. DATA FROM THE CITED STUDIES ARE INCLUDED. (RCB)