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Abstract
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Firearm ownership and carriage in the United States remains an intensely personal, political, and social issue. In recent years, firearm ownership has remained at the forefront of our society's dialogue about safety, personal freedom, and the role of government in regulating firearm access. Although some national regulations govern access to firearms, specific restrictions and regulations on firearm ownership and carriage are largely delegated to the states. Because states have varying laws, there are many opportunities for natural experiments that explore the relationship of firearm regulations to firearm ownership and carriage behavior, injury, and mortality.
In public health, we are interested in the external, population-level interventions and policies that decrease death and disability from injury or disease. Oftentimes, behavior change as a result of an intervention or policy is the crucial step that prevents the negative health outcome. Consequently, Rowhani-Rahbar et al. (p. 1783 in this issue of AJPH) have sought to understand whether state-level differences in firearm policies affect firearm carriage behavior with a loaded handgun, with an understanding that such behavior may be linked to the outcomes of interest, in this case, injury and death by firearm. It is known that firearm access and carriage are two of the most significant risk factors for pediatric firearm injuries,1-5 intimate partner homicide,6-8 suicide,9-11 and homicide of those who cohabitate,12-14 although relatively less is known about the relationship of population-level firearm carriage to population-level death and injury by firearm.
By using a nationally representative sample survey of firearm-owning adults, Rowahani-Rahbar et al. analyzed loaded handgun carriage. They then described the groups of respondents by demographics and the reasons cited by the owner for carrying the weapon. They also demonstrated that firearm owners carried loaded weapons in significantly more permitless carry and shall issue states than states with may issue policies. These data, when extrapolated, demonstrate that about 16 million adults in the United States have carried a loaded handgun in the past 30 days, a significant increase over 2015 data, which estimated 9 million adults did so.15
This research is critical for state policymakers to review. These data show that specific state-level policies can decrease the carriage of loaded handguns among those state populations. Rowahani-Rahbar et al. have demonstrated that policies aligned with may issue firearm carriage permitting can decrease the number of child, adolescent, and intimate partner homicides...
Language: en |