Gun Ownership Research Articles

It Takes a Village: Moving from Unaligned Action to Collective Impact.

For over two decades, violence has been understood as a public health problem. Despite a well-established and applicable public health framework, progress to address the entrenched violence that plagues many cities has been slow. We believe that progress can be effective only if it fully includes those most impacted by the violence. In this article, we describe an initiative to address one aspect of violence plaguing Wilmington: access to and possession of guns. Our initiative is driven by the lived experience of community members, builds on and expands an established collective impact effort to address gun violence, and focuses on the root causes of gun violence.

Understanding the Perception of Place and Its Impact on Community Violence.

In this article, we explore the responses of 357 African American men between 15- and 24-years old living in four high crime high violence cities to better understand their perception of their environment and its impact on community violence. We focus on study participants' perceptions of their cities, explanations of violence, and their perceived contribution to the level of violence. Respondents describe their cities in grim terms with few opportunities. And, from their perspective, the dangerous environment in which they live necessitates gun possession, potentially perpetuating community violence. Our findings affirm that as with any other public health issue, the perception of place matters in understanding community violence. Further, our findings underscore the importance of seeking and responding to the lived experience of those most likely to be victims and perpetrators of community violence in crafting and implementing interventions.

Procedures for the Control and Use of Firearms for Members of the Police of the Republic of Indonesia

The police institution serves as the spearhead in realizing the nation's ideals of justice, civility, and peace. This is regulated by Law No. 2 of 2003 concerning the police, where the police institution is one of the government's functions in maintaining security, public order, law enforcement, protection, guidance, and services to the community.To support these functions and duties, police officers are granted the authority to use firearms to achieve the nation's goals. In using firearms, the police institution must comply with applicable regulations and prioritize human rights (HR). This research aims to understand the system of granting possession and use of firearms permits for Indonesian police officers. This study employs normative legal research methods, which focus on the provisions of laws and regulations and their application in legal events. The sources of legal materials used consist of literature and field research. Literature includes legal materials obtained from reading literature and official sources in legal research, while field research is obtained by conducting interviews with informants.

The Influence of Gun Victimization on Support for Gun Control Legislation.

The primary objective of the current study was to add to the literature and broaden our understanding of gun violence victims by examining attitudes towards gun legislation held by victims of gun violence. To our knowledge, there are only two quantitative studies that have examined the impact of gun victimization on attitudes towards gun control legislation. A secondary objective was to examine the link between impressions of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and gun policy preferences, which remains an understudied area in the gun legislation literature. The current study additionally examined other factors that may impact support for gun control measures. Utilizing data from a national sample of 880 adults and controlling for demographic predictors, logistic regression was employed to examine the impact of gun victimization on attitudes towards gun control legislation. Although prior gun victimization did not yield any significant findings, concordant with prior research, regression results indicated that gun ownership was a strong predictor of opposition to gun control among respondents. Interestingly, holding a favorable attitude towards the NRA was an even stronger predictor of opposition to firearms legislation than gun ownership. Findings point to the need for additional empirical research on the impact of gun victimization and the influence that organizations like the NRA have on public opinion and subsequent gun safety legislative efforts.

Honor Endorsement and Increased Firearm Purchasing Behavior and Intentions During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The surge in firearm sales from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic have been linked to increases in firearm violence, which is of public concern given that having firearms in one's home is associated with increased risk for domestic violence and suicide. Consistent with pre-pandemic trends, individuals tended to purchase firearms for self-protection during COVID-19. Prior work indicates that protective firearm ownership is motivated not only by perceptions that the world (and one's local environment) is dangerous, but also by one's endorsement of masculinity norms found in U.S. cultures of honor (primarily southern and western states). Honor-based masculinity norms emphasis reputation defense, toughness, and an absolute intolerance of disrespect. The present research examined the relative motivating influences of various threat perceptions and masculine honor endorsement in predicting reasons for non-COVID-19 firearm ownership, firearm purchasing during COVID-19, and purchase intentions. Three separate samples (total N = 2483) of mostly White U.S. men completed online surveys during different months of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants completed measures of their endorsement of masculine honor norms, factors associated with firearm purchasing (e.g., dangerous world beliefs, intolerance of uncertainty), and firearm purchasing behaviors. Results indicated that masculine honor endorsement was higher among (1) protective firearm owners compared to non-owners and non-protective owners, (2) firearm owners who purchased a firearm during COVID-19 compared to non-owners and non-purchasing owners, and (3) firearm owners with intentions to purchase firearms in the next year compared to those without intentions and undecided owners. Relative to other predictors (e.g., COVID-19 concerns, dangerous world beliefs), masculine honor endorsement was consistently the strongest predictor of these outcomes. Findings add to the literature by highlighting the strength of masculine honor endorsement in motivating (protective) firearm ownership. Implications for interpersonal violence and suicide are discussed.

Disentangling the coping process in White rural men who carry guns.

Affluent White rural men have the highest rates of gun ownership in the United States. However, few studies have specifically examined reasons and motivations for gun ownership and gun behaviors in this population. Therefore, this study sought to examine the relationship between stress variables, namely masculine gender role stress, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and income level, and subsequent pro-gun beliefs and amount of time an individual carried a gun within this population. Results indicated that only two measures of pro-gun beliefs (i.e., believing guns keep one safe, believing guns are present in one's social sphere) were correlated with percentage of time an individual carried. Additionally, ACEs were positively correlated with believing guns influence how others perceive oneself, levels of masculine gender role stress, and income. These results suggest that White rural gun owners who have increased ACEs have decreased income and tend to believe that owning guns impacts their social status with peers. However, increased ACEs do not influence belief about guns keeping one safe, believing guns are present in one's social sphere, or gun carriage. Instead, White rural gun owners without childhood adversity may be more susceptible to believing their safety depends on guns and belongingness within their social sphere. Future research should assess reasons why affluent White rural men find it important to maintain their safety in the context of gun ownership.

Guns and Democracy: Anti-System Attitudes, Protest, and Support for Violence Among Pandemic Gun-Buyers

The last decade has given rise to substantial concern about democratic backsliding in the U.S. Manifestations include decreased trust in government, conspiratorial beliefs, contentious protests, and support for political violence. Surprisingly, prior work has not explored how these attitudes and behaviors relate to gun-buying, an action that provides people with the means to challenge the state. We address this topic by focusing on the unprecedented gun-buying surge during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a survey with over 32,000 respondents, we find that—relative to pre-existing gun owners (who did not buy during the pandemic) and the non-gun-owning public—pandemic gun-buyers are more likely to distrust government, believe in conspiracies, protest, and support political violence. These anti-government views and protest behaviors are especially likely among those who bought guns for political reasons. Our findings highlight a crucial dynamic underlying the recent spike in gun sales with consequences for American democracy.

Triggering Violence? The Impact of Firearms on the Nature and Lethality of Violent Encounters: A European Perspective

Firearms are used in around 25% of homicides in Europe. More so than other weapons commonly used in violent encounters, firearms have the ability to inflict lethal injuries. Yet, theoretical approaches to understanding the impact of firearms on the prevalence, lethality, and nature of violent encounters are scarce and have been developed almost exclusively within and for the context of the United States, where the levels of firearm violence and firearm availability are much higher than in Europe, limiting their applicability to the European context. To address this issue, European empirical data are reviewed in this paper to critically assess the few existing theoretical approaches focusing on the use of firearms in lethal and non-lethal violence. Based on the obtained findings, future directions for empirical research, as well as suggestions for new conceptualizations of firearm violence in Europe are presented.

Firearm ownership factors and cognitive functioning: A preliminary study

Recent studies have suggested that owning a firearm for the purpose of protection and intending to acquire a firearm within the next year are associated with disrupted cognitive-affective processes that may increase firearm suicide risk. Prior studies were limited by self-report measures and would benefit from the utilization of objective indicators of cognitive functioning to clarify associations between firearm ownership and cognitive-affective states. The present study examined objective cognitive performance in a sample of U.S. adults in relation to firearm ownership variables. Based on prior studies, we hypothesized that protective owners and individuals with the intention to acquire a firearm within the next year would demonstrate reduced performance on decision-making, mental flexibility, and emotional bias tasks. A total of 112 participants (61% female, 79% white) completed objective cognitive tasks following completion of a larger survey study through ResearchMatch. Results indicated that intention to purchase a firearm within the next year was not associated with cognitive functioning but was associated with an array of heightened psychiatric symptoms. Owning a firearm for the purpose of protection was associated with decreased mental flexibility relative to non-owners, but no differences were seen for decision-making or emotional bias. These findings represent the first attempt to examine underlying objective cognitive processes related to firearm ownership, and implications for future research are discussed.

The Effect of the Elected Chief Prosecutor on Punitiveness in Local Courtrooms

The United States currently leads the world in the number and proportion of individuals held under correctional supervision. Prosecutors are widely considered to be the most influential actors in the courtroom, and some current reform efforts center around prosecutor-driven reductions in punitiveness. However, little is known about the extent to which elected chief prosecutors impact punitiveness in local courtrooms. This study examines how dismissal and active sentence rates in nine mid- to large-sized prosecutorial districts in North Carolina are influenced by the identity of the elected District Attorney (DA) who was in office when the case was disposed. The study sample included four types of criminal cases (marijuana possession and sale, possession of firearm by felon, larceny, and driving while intoxicated) resolved in the nine districts from 2005–2018. A two-way fixed effects regression analyses showed that elected prosecutors significantly influenced dismissal and active sentence rates in their districts, typically to a small degree (by less than 5%) but sometimes by 20–30%. However, prosecutors did not influence punitiveness consistently across all crime types or according to traditional political party. This study suggests that the elected prosecutor matters in local criminal prosecution and enhances the current understanding of the power of the elected prosecutor to shape punitiveness in local courtrooms.

Suicide by Gunshot Wound to the Posterior Head and Neck: A Retrospective Case Series and Review of the Literature.

Suicide by firearm is a significant public health concern in specific regions of the world. Depending on firearm availability, any type of firearm may be used, including handguns, shotguns, and long rifles. Common entrance wound sites in suicidal gunshot wounds include the head, with classic gunshot wound locations including the temple, the forehead, the submental aspect of the chin, and inside the mouth. Occasionally, suicidal gunshot wounds occur in atypical body locations such as the back of the head and neck. Given their relative rarity, suicidal gunshot wounds in these regions may be mistaken for homicides. In this report, we present 5 cases of suicidal gunshot wounds to the back of the head and/or neck. In our series, we focus on differentiating each case from homicides involving gunshot wounds in similar areas of the head and neck.

Why some states bring more laws to the gunfight

Firearm laws impact rates of injuries and crimes in U.S. states. Researchers, however, seldom examine the factors that influence state-level enactment of restrictive firearm law provisions (FLPs) over time. This study builds on economic threat and group threat scholarship, explaining variation in the number of restrictive FLPs in effect across U.S. states from 1992 to 2019. Analyzing annual state-level panel data using longitudinal negative binomial regression, results indicate that economic threat, group threat, political partisanship, and region are particularly relevant to explaining this phenomenon. I situate this study in the sociological discourse on state-level firearm legislation and provide suggestions for future research.

Firearm ownership and storage practices among United States firefighters and emergency medical services personnel.

Compared with the general U.S. population, firefighters (FF) and emergency medical services (EMS) workers (FF + EMS personnel) are at increased risk for firearm suicide. Although secure firearm storage is associated with reduced risk of firearm suicide, no study has examined the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of firearm ownership and storage practices among U.S. FF + EMS personnel. A total of 141 U.S. FF + EMS personnel completed a structured, web-based self-report questionnaire. Overall, 76.6% (n = 108) of FF + EMS personnel in our sample reported owning a personal firearm, among whom 85.2% (n = 92) reported owning more than one firearm. Among firearm owners, 42.6% (n = 46) reported secure firearm storage (i.e., unloaded and locked) and 57.4% (n = 62) reported nonsecure firearm storage (i.e., loaded and/or unlocked). FF + EMS personnel who cited personal safety as the only reason for firearm ownership, as opposed to reporting other or multiple reasons for ownership (e.g., hunting), were at increased odds of reporting nonsecure storage practices (69.4% vs. 47.5%; OR = 2.51, 95% CI [1.14, 5.55], p = .023). Most FF + EMS personnel in our sample reported firearm ownership, and approximately half of the firearm owners reported nonsecure firearm storage practices. Promoting secure firearm storage practices among FF + EMS personnel might decrease risk of firearm suicide and other forms of firearm-related injuries. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Firearms, policy, and intimate partner homicide: A structural and disaggregated examination of Black, Latina, and White female victimization

AbstractIntimate partner homicide (IPH) continues to be a form of violence disproportionately affecting women in the United States, and access to firearms can greatly increase the likelihood that intimate partner violence becomes lethal. In response to concerns about firearms violence and their prevalence in IPH incidents specifically, states have passed restrictive firearms laws and policies. In this study, we provide an analysis of female IPH victimization disaggregated by race/ethnicity that incorporates state‐level firearms legislation. Our analytical approach is informed by intersectionality and accounts for other key intimate partner violence policies and structural predictors. We find that the relationship between firearms legislation and IPH varies in magnitude and direction across specific race/ethnicity female victimization groups. As such, our findings provide support for an intersectional framework in that restrictive firearms laws are not consistently associated with lower levels of IPH when incidents are disaggregated by gender and race/ethnicity.

Measuring the Market for Legal Firearms

The Massachusetts Firearms Records Bureau recently published administrative data covering the universe of legal firearm transactions in the state. We use these data to validate state-level background checks as a proxy for firearm transactions and show that historical trends in transactions within Massachusetts align with the rest of the United States. Using auxiliary data from a national survey, we show that the Massachusetts dataset can detect patterns in the demographics of both gun ownership and type of firearm purchased. Our analysis suggests that this dataset is a promising source of information for studying interactions in the market for legal firearms.

The Fake News Effect: Experimentally Identifying Motivated Reasoning Using Trust in News

Motivated reasoning posits that people distort how they process information in the direction of beliefs they find attractive. This paper creates a novel experimental design to identify motivated reasoning from Bayesian updating when people have preconceived beliefs. It analyzes how subjects assess the veracity of information sources that tell them the median of their belief distribution is too high or too low. Bayesians infer nothing about the source veracity, but motivated beliefs are evoked. Evidence supports politically motivated reasoning about immigration, income mobility, crime, racial discrimination, gender, climate change, and gun laws. Motivated reasoning helps explain belief biases, polarization, and overconfidence. (JEL C91, D12, D72, D83, D91, L82)

D55. Surgical Specialty Most Implicated in the Treatment of Gunshot Wound-related Injuries Stratified by State Gun Law Strength

D55. Surgical Specialty Most Implicated in the Treatment of Gunshot Wound-related Injuries Stratified by State Gun Law Strength

Real Time Weapon Detection using YOLOv8 and Alert Mechanism

Abstract: Security cameras and video surveillance cameras have become an important partof public safety. However, in many cities, thesesystems still manually detect high-risk situations. Understaffing in security services can lead to delays in detecting incidents or unforeseen threats, putting the public at risk. The aim of this project is to develop a low-cost, effective intelligencebased solution for real-time weapons detection and surveillance video analysis in different situations. As can be seen from many statistics, the incidence of gun and dangerous weapon crimes is increasing every year, making it difficult for the police to solve the problem in time. Crimes caused by guns or knives are very common in many places, especially in places where gun laws do not exist. Early detection of crime is critical to public safety. One way to prevent these situations is to use video surveillance to detect the presence of dangerous weapons such as guns and knives. Monitoring and control now also require monitoring and intervention.

Real Time Weapon Detection using YOLOv8 and Alert Mechanism

Abstract: Security cameras and video surveillance cameras have become an important partof public safety. However, in many cities, thesesystems still manually detect high-risk situations. Understaffing in security services can lead to delays in detecting incidents or unforeseen threats, putting the public at risk. The aim of this project is to develop a low-cost, effective intelligencebased solution for real-time weapons detection and surveillance video analysis in different situations. As can be seen from many statistics, the incidence of gun and dangerous weapon crimes is increasing every year, making it difficult for the police to solve the problem in time. Crimes caused by guns or knives are very common in many places, especially in places where gun laws do not exist. Early detection of crime is critical to public safety. One way to prevent these situations is to use video surveillance to detect the presence of dangerous weapons such as guns and knives. Monitoring and control now also require monitoring and intervention. Here, we present in video a system for tracking weapons suitable for tracking and controlling targets. We use the YOLOv8 (look once) algorithm to detect weapons in live video. YOLO model is an end-to-end deep learning model; it is very popular because it is fast and accurate. Previous methods such as region-based convolutional neural networks (R-CNN) required thousands of network tests to make predictions for an image, which could be time-consuming-Optimization is a laborious and painful process. He focuses on specific areas ofpainting and trains everything personally. The YOLO model, on the other hand, passes the image through the neural network only once. Since speed isimportant in real-time video, we use the YOLOv8 algorithm. This data was trained to classify three groups of weapons (pistols, knives, and artillery). When a weapon is detected, an alert is sent to authorities who can take action and reduce crime before it becomes a crime. Powered by Tensorflow, the system took 294 seconds in the first test toidentify weapon types in 9 categories.

A Common Ground Gun Violence Prevention Policy Package.

In 2022 we conducted a literature review, surveyed 1078 gun owners, and conducted post-survey focus groups and interviews of gun owners and non-gun owners, to determine a common ground gun violence prevention (GVP) policy package. This allowed us to see policies that would save lives and be widely accepted: (1) violent misdemeanor laws, (2) state permit laws, combined with universal background checks; (3) red flag laws. Based on our review of relevant research, we conservatively estimate that in states without any of the policy package components, implementing this package would result in a 27.9% reduction in firearm deaths. We believe that polarization between firearm owners and non-firearm owners, which has thwarted a widely supported response to the problem of gun violence, is largely a harmful myth that can be overcome by including gun owners in the process of fashioning an effective policy approach.