AI Article Synopsis

  • The study investigates how fears of crime and victimization, alongside social status threats, influence unsafe firearm storage practices and beliefs among gun owners in the U.S.
  • Data from a nationwide survey of firearm owners reveals that over 40% keep loaded firearms readily accessible at home, with many considering firearms as a safety measure, despite no direct correlation between crime fears and storage behavior.
  • The findings emphasize the need to address sociocultural anxieties that drive unsafe storage practices, as these feelings of insecurity might lead some individuals to feel more secure with loaded firearms on hand.

Article Abstract

Objectives: To understand how crime and victimisation fears and risks operate alongside social status threats and motivations to shape unsafe in-home firearm storage practices and beliefs.

Methods: Using data from firearm owners identified in a nationwide sample surveyed in 2023, this study examined how in-home loaded firearm accessibility, firearm storage practice and firearm safety beliefs are associated with: fear of crime and victimisation; perceived and personal victimisation; racial resentment; cultural and status threats; and masculinity threats. Regression models also accounted for the role of gender, race, marital status, political affiliation, geographic region and protective motivation for firearm ownership.

Results: Over 40% of firearm owners reported having a loaded firearm 'always accessible' at home, and almost half think homes with firearms are safer than those without. About one-third of owners reported storing firearms locked but still loaded. Crime and victimisation fears and threats were unrelated to firearm storage behaviours and beliefs; however, firearm owners who experience higher levels of sociocultural anxiety are more likely to always have a loaded firearm accessible at home, store firearms locked and loaded, and believe that firearms make homes safer.

Conclusions: Identifying the barriers to safer storage beliefs and behaviours is essential for refining and enhancing effective firearm injury prevention strategies. Sociocultural anxieties may not reflect concrete threats to physical safety, but they can be experienced as feelings of insecurity, instability and distress that-for some Americans-may be managed by knowing they have a (loaded) firearm within reach.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/ip-2023-045096DOI Listing

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