Patterns of Firearm Ownership and Opinions on Firearm Policies Among Adults in California

Julia P Schleimer,Amanda Charbonneau,Garen J Wintemute,Rocco Pallin,Nicole Kravitz-Wirtz

doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.12096

Julia P Schleimer, Amanda Charbonneau + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.12096

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Journal: JAMA Network Open	Publication Date: Jul 31, 2020
Citations: 2	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: University of California, Davis

Abstract

This survey study assess whether patterns in firearm ownership are associated with opinions on firearm safety among adults in California.

Highlights

Few studies[1] have examined variation in firearm policy opinions among firearm owners, even though these policies, which may target specific firearms or behaviors, may not affect all owners
Data for this survey study were from the 2018 California Safety and Well-being Survey administered from September 14, 2018, to October 12, 2018.3 The California Safety and Well-being Survey was approved by the University of California, Davis Institutional Review Board
We examined support for 3 firearm policy proposals according to previously identified[2] latent classes of ownership: owners of Ն5 firearms, including handguns and long guns; owners of 1 long gun for a reason other than protection; owners of 1 handgun for protection; owners of 2 to 4 firearms, including at least 1 for protection; and owners of Ն5 firearms, including assault weapons, and high-capacity magazines (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Few studies[1] have examined variation in firearm policy opinions among firearm owners, even though these policies, which may target specific firearms or behaviors, may not affect all owners . The confluence of individuals’ firearm-related practices and motivations may reflect differences among owners that are unmeasured (eg, concern for safety) or unobservable (eg, culture) and that are associated with policy opinions. With use of a state-representative survey of California adults, a previous study[2] identified 5 latent classes of firearm ownership based on numbers and types of firearms owned, the primary reason for ownership, firearm storage, loaded handgun carrying behavior and motivations, and highcapacity ammunition magazine ownership. We assessed whether those patterns were associated with variation in opinions on 3 selected firearm policies.

Methods

Results

Conclusion