The data came from property room logbooks and computerized incident databases in five police agencies for 1995. The agencies served a population of 648,500 and recovered 831 firearms. More than half of these firearms were nonrestricted rifles, just over one-fifth were air guns, and about one-fifth were handguns. Fifty-seven percent were recovered in criminal incidents; 40 percent were recovered in noncriminal incidents. Weapon offense incidents such as possession of a restricted weapon were the most common type of criminal incident that resulted in the recovery of a firearm. Most of the firearms recovered in noncriminal incidents were turned in for destruction. A majority of the firearms recovered as a result of a criminal incident were directly involved in the incident. In addition, 74 percent of the firearms recovered in attempted and completed suicides were nonrestricted rifles and shotguns; 15 percent were handguns. Tables, figure, footnotes, appended results from each agency, and 3 references