TY - JOUR PY - 2021// TI - Increased risks or peace of mind? Exploring fear, victimization, and safety strategies among women planning to get a gun JO - Journal of interpersonal violence A1 - Logan, T. K. A1 - Lynch, Kellie R. SP - ePub EP - ePub VL - ePub IS - ePub N2 - Much of the research on firearm owners implies that the U.S. population can be divided into two groups-those that own guns and those that do not; however, there is a third group-those thinking of getting a gun and almost nothing is known about this group. A survey on gun ownership, experiences, and behaviors was deployed online via Prolific in June and July 2020 to recruit women from the general U.S. population who were planning on getting a gun (n = 187), who owned a gun (n = 288) and who did not own or plan to own guns (n = 968).

RESULTS show that women planning on getting a gun worried more about their personal safety and more had experienced recent interpersonal violence victimization compared to the other two groups. Almost all of the women planning on getting a gun believed that carrying a gun would make them safer. Even though women planning on getting a gun had limited experience with guns, they expressed fewer gun related worries than nongun owners. Additionally, women planning on getting a gun had more depression symptoms and more of them indicated they had thoughts of self-harm in the past two weeks than current gun owners. Depression symptoms were significantly associated with plans to get a gun in the multivariate model. Given the risks associated with having firearms in the household, interventions could target those considering getting a gun as well as educating friends and family about what to say when someone close is considering obtaining a firearm for safety.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0886-2605 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/08862605211035865 ID - ref1 ER -