Conformity to masculine role norms, firearm storage behaviors, and openness to means safety among two samples of firearm owners

Abstract

ObjectiveUnderstanding the sociocultural characteristics that are associated with US firearm owners' current storage practices and openness to means safety can inform suicide prevention initiatives. Masculinity, which is dominant within the US gun culture, may be a particularly salient factor that influences firearm ownership, storage practices, and openness to means safety. A recent study by McDermott et al. (2021) found that firearm ownership was associated with a combination of being White, male, politically conservative, and endorsing higher conformity to the masculine norms of violence, risk taking, and power over women. The current study builds upon McDermott and colleagues’ (2021) research by examining the unique contribution of conformity to nine masculine norms as predictors of current firearm storage practices and openness to firearms means safety. MethodsTwo samples of US firearm owners were recruited on Amazon's Mechanical Turk in 2019 (Sample 1; n = 200) and 2020 (Sample 2; n = 297). ResultsHigher adherence to the norms of emotional control, violence, and power over women were associated with less secure storage practices, but only in Sample 2. The hypothesis that self-reliance, emotional control, and risk taking would be associated with openness to means safety was largely unsupported. Adherence to the violence norm was observed to have the greatest association with both current storage practices and openness to changing storage practices. ConclusionsWhile several masculine norms were not consistently associated with our outcomes, the norm of violence may play a small role in firearm storage practices and openness to means safety for suicide prevention.