Gun owner perceptions about dangers could improve gun safety

People living with guns less worried about firearm injuries

SACRAMENTO » People who own guns and those living with gun owners are substantially less worried about the risk of firearm injuries than individuals living in homes without guns, says a new study by violence prevention experts at UC Davis Health. The research team said that with the rise in gun purchases during the COVID-19 pandemic, this difference in concern about the risks of gun violence provides an opportunity for better public health messaging.

The study, titled “Firearm ownership and perceived risk of personal firearm injury,” appeared online last week in the British Medical Journal publication Injury Prevention.

The researchers noted that individuals’ perceptions of firearm dangers are in sharp contrast to evidence showing that those with access to firearms are more likely to die from firearm violence, including suicide, homicide and unintentional injury, compared to those without access to guns.

“People usually say they purchase firearms for selfprotection,” said Julia Schleimer, lead author of the study and an epidemiologist with the UCD Violence Prevention Research Program. “However, homicides from gunshots in the home are much more often criminal than self-defensive, and the risks of murder associated with firearm ownership are greater for women than for men.”

Schleimer said this disconnect in awareness among gun owners and people living with gun owners about the actual dangers of firearm injury deserves more attention. She and her research colleagues suggest that more effective communications strategies could be developed to help improve firearm safety in the same way public health messaging about smoking, seatbelt use, and diet has reduced disease and injury.

The new study was based on data from respondents to the 2018 California Safety and Wellbeing Survey, which included the question, “In general, how worried are you about gun violence happening to you?” The researchers found that about 58% of respondents reported being somewhat worried or very worried about gun violence happening to them.