Most gun owners in the United States are motivated by protection

On August 1, 2024By Rgal Nv

WEDNESDAY, July 31, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Protection was the top reason for gun ownership in the United States in 2023, according to a study published online July 25 in Injury Prevention.

Michelle Degli Esposti of the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and colleagues characterized gun owners’ motivations and whether motivations and behaviors varied by the status of each state’s policing law. The analysis included survey responses from 2,477 gun owners.

The researchers found that 78.8% of respondents reported owning a firearm for protection. More than half (58.1%) carried a firearm outside their home in the past 12 months. There was no significant relationship between gun ownership for protection and stand your ground laws. However, gun ownership was more common in states with stand your ground laws (50.1 vs. 34.9%). Compared with other motivators for ownership, women and minority racial group status were correlated with gun ownership for protection. Nearly all Black and Asian women (98.8%) reported owning firearms solely for protection.

“In a context of rising rates of gun ownership and liberalization of gun legalization, it is increasingly important to understand why Americans own and carry firearms,” the authors write. “This study reveals that gun ownership in the United States is now almost exclusively driven by a perceived need for protection, motivating new types of gun owners, including women and racial minorities.”

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