New York – Almost a third of American adults own a gun, but the rate varies widely by state and tops out at almost 62 percent of people in Alaska, new survey data show.
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Gun ownership was closely tied to “social gun culture,” wherein family and friends also own guns and think less of non-gun owners, researchers found.
“Considering the presence of deeply rooted gun culture and the estimated number of guns in the U.S. to be 310 million, we (suspected) that social gun culture is associated with gun ownership,” said lead author Dr. Bindu Kalesan of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York.
“This association was strong even after removing the effect of other factors such as presence of gun laws and gun deaths,” Kalesan told Reuters Health by email.
The researchers used data from a 2013 online survey of 4,000 people over age 18 from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Participants were selected to be representative of the U.S. population as a whole.
About 29 percent of people nationwide reported owning a gun. Only five percent of people in Delaware and six percent in Rhode Island owned a gun, compared to almost 62 percent in Alaska.
More than half of people reported owning a gun in West Virginia, Arkansas, Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. Regionally, gun ownership was least common in the Northeast and most common in the South and West.
About 5 percent of people said they used their gun for hunting, and 10 percent reported attending gun safety classes.
The authors found that 32 percent of gun owners were exposed to “social gun culture” compared to six percent of non-gun owners.
White males over age 55 were most likely to own guns, compared to other demographics, according to a report of the study in Injury Prevention.
In general, gun ownership is on the decline in the U.S., although sales are up, so those who do own them may be buying more than one, Kalesan said.
In comparison with other developed countries, ownership of guns by civilians in the U.S. is extremely high, she said.
Australia, faced with increased gun deaths, made it mandatory to turn in guns in 1996, and since then gun deaths have plummeted, she said.
In the new survey, gun ownership was least common in states with stricter gun control policies, but it is not clear whether those laws change the culture of the state, or if the culture of the state brings the laws about, according to Dr. Michael Siegel of the department of Community Health Sciences at Boston University School of Public Health.
Siegel was not part of the new study.
“It is well established that higher gun ownership levels by state are tied to higher homicide levels,” he told Reuters Health by phone. “No one has asked the question of why certain states have higher ownership rates.”
“Gun culture” may explain it, and may help public health experts implement policies to decrease gun prevalence, he said.
Decades of public health messaging, TV and media campaigns have successfully changed the social norms surrounding tobacco, another public health hazard, and smoking has been on the decline, Siegel said.
“It’s pretty widely acknowledged that people shouldn’t smoke in public,” he said. “Someone may say with guns, there’s no way you can change social norms about that, but we would have said that about smoking 30 or 40 years ago.”
Owning a firearm has health effects, increasing the probability of your own injury, and education campaigns could highlight this, he said.
“It’s not clear that it will protect you,” Siegel said. “There’s a lot of evidence that it results in accidents, and is more likely to be used in a way that injures the owner or someone in the household.”
Other industrialized countries do not tolerate the problem of gun violence, but for some reason people in the U.S. do, he said.
“Do we really want to accept this? We don’t have to accept the way things are, we can change our culture,” he said.
Policy makers should keep in mind the pervasive gun culture and the strong association with gun ownership, Kalesan said.
Universal background checks for purchasing guns and ammunition tend to be the most effective laws in discouraging gun ownership, she said.
Sorry, this “article” is pure drivel. It’s Brady Campaign propaganda, not based on fact. Maybe gun deaths have gone down in Australia, but home invasions have risen to an epic proportion!
It’s a well documented fact that as gun ownership goes up, crime goes down. My city in VA has steadily seen a decrease in crime the last 6 years inn a row.
John Lott publishes many studies on gun ownership, as well as the number of times owning a gun has saved innocent people. If even one person in Charleston had a gun with them, the outcome might have been very different. The murderer stopped 5 times to reload! That would have been 5 chances to take him out.
If anyone thinks a criminal is going to follow the law on gun free zones, then why not just make it illegal to murder people, period.
Who cares? The crimimals get guns without permits and are probably not in these statistics. Im tottaly pro gun. Of.course bearing in mind tjththat frum women frum are not allowed but their men,why not? There are safes for these things at home
More guns does not equal more violence or deaths, look at Israel and Switzerland, where private gun ownership is rampant. Even in the USA most guns used in crime are ILLEGALLY obtained. http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2013/05/14/disarming-realities-as-gun-sales-soar-gun-crimes-plummet/
Imagine if the Yidden in german Europe were allowed to own guns, the Shoah might have had a very different outcome.
Handguns are for sissies, and are sooo 19th century wild-west cowboy fantasy. The Second Amendment clearly gives US citizens the inalienable right to bear REAL arms, for use by REAL militias. We’re talking surface-to-air missiles and ant-tank weapons, and that’s just for starters. I have no problem with the US government outlawing handgun ownership IFF (not a typo) restrictions on ownership of REAL weapons systems are lifted. BTW, most military forbid or restrict enlisted men from bearing handguns; they’re typically issued to officers.
I have 5 loaded guns, 2 loaded semi-auto rifles and a shot gun strategically placed in my home. My wife and I go to the range every once in a while for target practice. If someone decides to invade my home, the Coroner will have to remove him from the premises. In today’s world one must be prepared for anything.
Never Again!
A true story: (Approximately 15-20 years ago)
A Yeshiva Rebbe and his wife took a walk every afternoon. One afternoon as they were walking, 3 Hispanics jumped out of a car holding their long blade knives toward the couple. The Rebbe pulled out a 357 Magnum and as he pointed it at them he said “Get out of my neighborhood!” The Mexican’s jumped back into their car and quickly took off. A Goyish neighbor who live across the street saw the Rebbe pointing the gun at the 3 Mexicans and called the police. She reported “A Rabbi is mugging 3 Mexicans!”
There was an incident the other day, at a motel in Albuquerque, NM, whereby a parolee wanted in Tennessee, accosted a former CNN anchor, and her husband in their hotel room. The parolee had a gun, and started shooting at the husband. He returned fire, with his registered legal firearm, killing the perpetrator. His wife stated that he saved their lives. Her husband was wounded in the exchange, but at least the two of them emerged alive, and that piece of garbage, who tried to kill them, is gone forever!
If there are 310 million guns, and 100 million have guns, that means each of 100 million have 3 guns!
I am sure their neighborhoods are safe! No thefts or drugs.
#1 I live in Australia and there are no mass shootings.
There are very few home invasions, most are related to drugs and no-one is shot during them. Wiki has a page showing number of shooting deaths and per person of population the USA has ten times the number of shootings of Australia. And in most of the shootings, the victim is known to the shooter. Almost unheard of that a crazed gunman goes on a rampage killing tens or scores of people.
Criminals will always get guns but they do not go on mass shootings. They might kill the person who doesn’t pay up or their competition but not innocent random people on the street.
PS that is, in Australia.
If someone in the church in Charleston had a gun, the outcome would have been different.
If someone in the shul in Har Nof had a gun, the outcome would have been different.
Maybe we don’t have to go as far as Rabbi Meir Kahane who said :”Every Jew a 22″.
But every shul should have one guy with a hidden gun, on the ready.
The outcomes would definitely be different !
Every Jew a .22 ?!? Every Jew a 7.62 is more prudent in today’s world. Oh, and this “study” is pure bologna!
To be fair both sides are right. Newtown was clearly due to too many guns around. That dreanged kid was raised by a law abidding citizen who glorified guns. Thats what caused him to dream up about the massacre. If guns were illegal that kid would have never grown up in a gun glorifiyng enviornment. Chances are he would not have thought or been as sucessful in carrying out his deed. On the other hand if guns were more available perhpas the school indentent could have shot him before more harm was down. And look at Pamaila Geller who was saved because her guards had guns. This is a never ending debate where both sides are correct
Freedom has rights.
Our nation has laws.
The unforgiven is not a happy outcome.
Minds see that taxes are paid to good faith.
Trust in Hashem to guide America.
Our future is the history of the world!
stuff the gun in the sheitel and no one will see it