Most U.S. Firearm Owners Motivated by Protection

WEDNESDAY, July 31, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Protection was the dominant reason for U.S. firearm ownership in 2023, according to a study published online July 25 in Injury Prevention.

Michelle Degli Esposti, from the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues characterized the motivations of firearm owners and whether motivations and behaviors varied by state stand your ground law status. Analysis included survey responses from 2,477 firearm owners.

The researchers found that 78.8 percent of respondents reported owning a firearm for protection. More than half (58.1 percent) carried a firearm outside their home in the last 12 months. There was not a significant relationship between firearm ownership for protection and stand your ground laws. However, firearm carriage was more prevalent in states with stand your ground laws (50.1 versus 34.9 percent). Compared to other ownership motivators, women and minority racial group status correlated with firearm ownership for protection. Nearly all Black and Asian women (98.8 percent) said they owned firearms solely for protection.

"Against a background of rising rates of firearm ownership and firearm legalization liberalization, it is increasingly important to understand why Americans own and carry firearms," the authors write. "This study finds that firearm ownership in the USA is now almost exclusively driven by a perceived need for protection, motivating new types of firearm owners, including women and racial minorities."

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