Citation

Sampson RJ, Lanfear CC. JAMA Netw. Open 2024; 7(4): e245066.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, American Medical Association)

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.5066

PMID

38592726

Abstract

Wintemute et al1 tackle a timely question: what is the link between gun ownership and support for political violence under conditions of social instability? Much has been written on political extremism and violence in the United States in recent years, but detailed data on specific forms of political violence and type of gun ownership are lacking. Filling this gap, the authors designed a large and nationally representative survey in the spring of 2022 to assess whether firearm owners are more supportive of and willing to engage in political violence compared with nonowners. Perhaps surprisingly, the differences are muted even though they run in expected directions. Firearm owners are more likely than nonowners to agree that violence is needed for social change and to imagine a coming civil war, but as the authors emphasize, the differences are modest overall. For example, owners were approximately 7 percentage points (or roughly a third) more likely to consider violence justified to achieve at least 1 of 17 specified political objectives compared with nonowners. However, the base rates for each objective were generally quite low (most under 10%), and owners were only more likely to endorse 5 specific objectives. Additionally, there were no differences between owners and nonowners in reported willingness to engage in types of violence such as damaging property or killing people.

While these results are somewhat reassuring, more decisive differences were seen for types of gun ownership and the timing of gun purchases. Owners who recently purchased firearms, frequently carry loaded firearms, and own assault-type rifles reported greater support for political violence than comparison owners. Sometimes these differences are notable; for example, gun carriers were from 11 to 19 percentage points more likely to report that the use of force or violence is justified to advance a political objective compared with noncarriers. Compared with other owners, recent purchasers and those who carry loaded guns in public are also more willing to kill or injure someone in situations where they deem force is justified to advance important political objectives. These findings converge with other trends to portend potentially troubling implications for the future. Indeed, gun purchases and firearm violence increased sharply in the period 2015 to 2021 and during COVID-19. The civil turmoil surrounding January 6, 2021, and increasing political polarization add to the combustible mix. ...

1. Wintemute GJ, Crawford A, Robinson SL, et al. Firearm ownership and support for political violence in the United States.  JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(4):e243623. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.3623

Language: en

Keywords

*Ownership; Humans