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The effect of perceived risk and victimization on plans to purchase a gun for self-protection

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  • Kleck, Gary
  • Kovandzic, Tomislav
  • Saber, Mark
  • Hauser, Will

Abstract

Purposes To determine if perceived risk of criminal victimization, and past criminal victimization experiences, increases the likelihood of a person owning a gun for self-protection, and to determine if defects in past research concerning the way gun ownership was measured had obscured such effects.Methods We analyzed data on over 2,500 U.S. adults, using different ways of measuring gun ownership, and also analyzed future plans (among persons who did not own a gun at the time of the survey) to acquire a gun for self-protection. The latter procedure avoids the causal order problem attributable to the possibility that acquiring a gun might affect victimization risks and perceived risks, as well as the reverse.Results The estimated effect of perceived risk and prior victimization changed from being nonsignificant when household gun ownership was the dependent variable (as in most prior research) to being increasingly strong, and statistically significant, when gun ownership of the individual respondent for defensive reasons was measured. Further, once the causal order issue was side-stepped, risk and victimization showed even stronger, significant positive effects on planning to get a gun.Conclusions Crime affects gun ownership, in addition to any effects that gun ownership may have on crime.

Suggested Citation

  • Kleck, Gary & Kovandzic, Tomislav & Saber, Mark & Hauser, Will, 2011. "The effect of perceived risk and victimization on plans to purchase a gun for self-protection," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 312-319, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jcjust:v:39:y:2011:i:4:p:312-319
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. DeJong, Christina, 1997. "Differential indicators of defensive weapon ownership: a comparison by genderPublications received," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 517-526, November.
    2. Moulton, Brent R, 1990. "An Illustration of a Pitfall in Estimating the Effects of Aggregate Variables on Micro Unit," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(2), pages 334-338, May.
    3. Robert M. Jiobu & Timothy J. Curry, 2001. "Lack of Confidence in the Federal Government and the Ownership of Firearms," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 82(1), pages 77-88, March.
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    1. Kleck, Gary, 2015. "The Impact of Gun Ownership Rates on Crime Rates: A Methodological Review of the Evidence," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 40-48.
    2. Cross, Benjamin W. & Pruitt, Stephen W., 2013. "Dark Knights Rising: The Aurora Theater and Newtown School Massacres and Shareholder Wealth," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 452-457.
    3. Gerdes, Madison B, 2023. "Assessing the relationship between gun ownership and fear of mass shootings," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 336(C).
    4. Cafferata, Fernando G. & Domínguez, Patricio & Scartascini, Carlos, 2023. "Overconfidence and Gun Preferences: How Behavioral Biases Affect Your Safety," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12816, Inter-American Development Bank.
    5. J C Barnes & Kevin M Beaver & Brian B Boutwell, 2013. "A Functional Polymorphism in a Serotonin Transporter Gene (5-HTTLPR) Interacts with 9/11 to Predict Gun-Carrying Behavior," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-5, August.
    6. Joseph M. Pierre, 2019. "The psychology of guns: risk, fear, and motivated reasoning," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, December.

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