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Gun Control in The United States

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Published: Jul 17, 2018

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A gun shop in Dunedin, Florida. Photo by Martin Roemers/Panos Pictures

Why America fell for guns

The us today has extraordinary levels of gun ownership. but to see this as a venerable tradition is to misread history.

by Megan Kang   + BIO

In 1970, amid a national confrontation with the United States’ gun culture following the assassinations of Robert F Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr, the historian Richard Hofstadter struggled to make sense of how the country had become the ‘only industrial nation in which the possession of rifles, shotguns, and handguns is lawfully prevalent among large numbers of its population.’ Writing for the magazine American Heritage , he expressed grave concern for a country ‘afloat with weapons – perhaps as many as 50 million of them – in civilian hands.’ If the US was afloat then, it’s flooded now.

Half a century later, Americans own approximately 400 million firearms and the country carries the unfortunate distinction of being the only one in the world in which guns are known to be the leading cause of child and adolescent death. Today, Americans live with around 1.2 guns per capita – double that of the next-highest scoring country, Yemen. Despite having less than 5 per cent of the global population, the US possesses nearly half of the world’s civilian-owned guns. Moreover, in recent years Americans have witnessed a surge in gun sales and gun-related deaths, unfolding against a backdrop of increasingly lenient gun laws across states.

In light of these developments, Hofstadter’s question takes on renewed urgency: ‘Why is it that in all other modern democratic societies those endangered ask to have such men disarmed, while in the United States alone they insist on arming themselves?’ How did the US come to be so terribly exceptional with regards to its guns?

F rom the viewpoint of today, it is difficult to imagine a world in which guns were less central to US life. But a gun-filled country was neither innate nor inevitable. The evidence points to a key turning point in US gun culture around the mid- 20th century, shortly before the state of gun politics captured Hofstadter’s attention.

Firearm estimates derived from gun sales and surveys indicate that, in 1945, there were somewhere around 45 million guns in the US at a time when the country had 140 million people. A quarter-century later, by 1970, the number of guns doubled , whereas the population increased by a little less than 50 per cent. By 2020, the number of guns had skyrocketed to nearly tenfold of its 1945 rate, while the population grew less than 2.5 times the 1945 number.

From the mid-20th century to today, guns also changed from playing a relatively minor role in US crime to taking centre-stage. Research by the criminologist Martin Wolfgang on Philadelphia’s homicide patterns from 1948 to 1952 reveals that only 33 per cent of the city’s homicides involved a firearm. Today, 91 per cent of homicides in Philadelphia feature a gun. Similarly, the national firearm homicide rate is 81 per cent . In addition, opinion polls traced the evolution over the second half of the 20th century from Americans buying guns primarily for hunting and recreation to buying them for self-protection against other people. Together, these findings reveal a sea change in US gun culture between the mid- 20th century and the present day.

US law prohibits the federal government from keeping a gun registry

So, how did this change happen? Until recently, it’s been difficult to say. The paucity of historical data on gun availability has left the origins of the country’s exceptional gun culture a mystery.

The US lacks a national gun registry, which is what most other countries use to count their gun supply. Yet, gun registration has been a hotly contested issue among US gun owners, who are concerned that state-mandated registration is a precursor to state-sponsored confiscation. Even though gun registries have been shown to reduce gun deaths, US law – specifically, the 1986 Firearm Owners’ Protection Act passed under the then president Ronald Reagan – prohibits the federal government from keeping a registry. As of today, only six US states maintain gun registries.

Without a national gun registry, researchers have had to rely on surveys and gun proxies to investigate trends related to gun availability in the US. Most of our existing data on gun prevalence comes from a few questions on the General Social Survey (GSS), which began asking US households whether they own guns in 1973 and has continued asking them every other year since. Due to its consistency over time and its nationally representative sample, the GSS is considered the gold standard of gun ownership data. It’s also been used to validate proxies for gun ownership that provide better estimates at local and state levels. Some of the most commonly used gun proxies come from hunting licences and Guns & Ammo magazine subscriptions per county, as well as the percentage of suicides with firearms per state.

Annual gun sales give us another indicator of the flow of guns into the country, but since it’s impossible to tell where those guns end up or for how long they’re in use, gun sales provide an imperfect measure of ownership over time. Moreover, gun sales data are consistently available only at the national level, and therefore do not allow researchers to exploit state- or county-level differences to explore how changes in gun ownership are related to other social factors like crime, education and public policy across the country.

It’s no wonder that when a National Research Council committee reviewed the state of research on US guns and violence in 2005, it found that ‘answers to some of the most pressing questions cannot be addressed with existing data.’ The best data available start in 1973 and are ‘limited primarily to a few questions from the General Social Survey.’ As the committee rightly pointed out:

Even the best methods cannot overcome inadequate data … Without improvements in this situation, the substantive questions in the field about the role of guns in suicide, homicide and other crimes, and accidental injury are likely to continue to be debated on the basis of conflicting empirical findings.

In other words, without the right data, even the most basic questions about guns – such as when and how the US came to have so many of them – are untestable and remain susceptible to politicised perspectives and speculative interpretations.

H owever, recent research conducted by Elizabeth Rasich and myself breaks new ground by expanding the data to tackle key questions of gun ownership. Researchers have long used the firearm suicide proxy, regarded as the most reliable indicator of US households with at least one gun, to explore the connection between gun ownership and various issues, including the social costs of firearms, police brutality and mass shootings . Until our newly extended dataset, this proxy was available only from 1973 onward, a time by which the country’s gun culture was already in full swing.

By extending and examining this data for household gun ownership rates – the percentage of suicides with a firearm – we sought to illuminate the enigma of the origins of the distinct gun culture in the US. The key to understanding the inception of this cultural transformation lay in accessing data on gun ownership in earlier decades. While digging in the historical records, we found that the data on firearm suicides go back to 1949, which is the first year the US vital statistics included information about suicides by gun. We hand-digitised the firearm suicide counts for each state and each year from 1949 to 1972, validated the data through a series of statistical tests and, in doing so, created what is now the longest-ranging dataset on state-level gun ownership rates to date.

With the right data in hand, we turned to our next task – making sense of the exceptionally high gun ownership rates among Americans. When trying to figure out when and how the country acquired so many guns, we initially thought the answer may lie in the civil unrest and rising crime rates of the 1960s and ’70s. Instead, we found a trajectory dating back to the mid- 20th century.

Early gun culture was utilitarian, collective and state-directed

Conventional wisdom holds that the ample supply of guns has always been part of the US tradition, with consumer demand steadily meeting it. Hofstadter thought this might have to do with the ‘American historical mythology about the protective value of guns’ as ‘an important counterpoise to tyranny’. Indeed, guns helped Americans secure their independence and expand the western frontier across North America. As many know, the right of Americans to keep and bear arms is, of course, enshrined in the US constitution.

It’s true that guns have been present in the US since its inception, initially serving as tools of necessity in the colonies and on the frontier. They’ve played a key role in American imagination, culture and politics. However, in the past half-century, US gun culture has witnessed an unequivocal transformation. The historian Brian DeLay contends that the idea of a continuous gun culture in the US is a myth. His work shows that early gun culture was utilitarian, collective and state-directed; whereas in the past half-century, the emergence of new gun technologies, such as assault weapons, along with a shift towards self-defensive uses of guns, have come to define contemporary US gun culture. These developments have led gun experts like the sociologist David Yamane to identify the rise of ‘Gun Culture 2.0’ or the ‘culture of armed citizenship’ as a modern phenomenon rather than an endemic national trait.

An alternative explanation for the exceptional gun rates in the US centres on the surge of crime and civil unrest in the late 1960s to ’70s – a period coinciding with Hofstadter’s writing and a national uptick in crime. According to this perspective, the rapid rise in gun ownership rates over the past half-century is a result of escalating crime rates and eroding trust in institutions. This narrative pins the turning point of US gun culture on the spread of urban violence and the fraying of public confidence in government amid the Vietnam War, which encouraged people to put safety in their own hands, or so the story goes.

While an increase in crime and a decline in trust in the US government may have contributed to the surge in gun demand, this can’t be the full story. It’s true that the US gun stock rapidly rose during this period, however historical data from the US Department of Justice indicates that the rate of families reporting gun ownership remained stable or even declined during the 1960s and early ’70s. Moreover, our newly compiled gun ownership data going back to 1949 further challenge this explanation, pointing to an inflection point in earlier decades.

T o understand the real origins of the exceptional gun culture of the US, we needed to look further back in time. Our research reveals a puzzling new trajectory: a remarkable 45 per cent increase in the household gun ownership rate from 1949 to 1990, peaking during 1990. To our surprise, more than half of this rise occurred before 1973, a period previously obscured by the lack of systematic data on gun prevalence. These new data provide a crucial historical perspective, showing that the surge in gun prevalence started before the period marked by rising crime and falling trust. In fact, our measure shows an uptick in gun prevalence beginning in the 1950s, a period defined by low homicide rates and peak trust in government, prompting questions about why and how more households acquired guns during a period of relative calm.

We examined the factors that were most connected to state-level increases in these rates from 1949 to 1990, the decades in which household gun ownership steadily rose and when the exceptional US gun culture took shape. We tested several different variables that could have contributed to this rise – including demographic shifts, rising crime, racial conflicts, changes in education and civil unrest, among others. We controlled for state and year differences within our sample, as is convention in scientific studies on gun ownership over time, to ensure that we weren’t comparing states with other states that have drastically different populations and gun traditions, or that the results weren’t skewed by specific years that were outliers in the data.

They mass-marketed these imported guns to consumers flush with cash

Of all the potential explanations we tested, we discovered that the post-Second World War economic boom and relaxed federal gun regulations most drove the surge in demand for guns. As unemployment rates decreased and incomes increased, firearms – once deemed a luxury or practical necessity – grew within reach for more and more Americans. Simultaneously, cultural attitudes surrounding gun ownership may have shifted, as multiple generations of Americans returning from the Second World War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War became accustomed to owning and using guns.

In his book Gun Country (2023), the historian Andrew McKevitt complements these findings with a rich tapestry of archival evidence. By weaving together gun advertisements, congressional hearings and journalistic sources, among others, McKevitt illustrates that US gun culture is unequivocally modern, specifically emerging post-1945, and from the aftermath of the Second World War and the start of Cold War politics.

Following the global demobilisation in 1945, McKevitt shows, surplus war firearms flooded the US market at dirt-cheap prices. This influx was facilitated by the ‘new gun capitalists’, a group of little-known entrepreneurs who imported and sold these guns to US consumers. They reshaped the US gun industry by establishing a mass market for civilian guns that had limited practical use elsewhere and faced stricter regulations in other countries. Capitalising on the surplus of inexpensive imported firearms, the new gun capitalists learned how to stimulate demand through marketing foreign guns as desirable consumer goods for the everyday American. They mass-marketed these imported guns to consumers flush with cash and eager to acquire these one-of-a-kind war arms from across the globe.

Magazine advertisements for mail-in orders of inexpensive guns targeted new buyers who couldn’t afford the high prices of name-brand US firearms. These ads leveraged the appeal of vintage guns as ‘authentic World War II souvenirs’ from Germany, Spain, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Japan and other war-torn countries. Post-Second World War ads can be found touting guns as among the ‘finest made by the Fascists. Carried by the crack Italian Alpine troops.’ The very gun used by Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate the president John F Kennedy was an Italian rifle purchased from a Chicago mail-order store.

Seeking to safeguard retail prices from this new supply of foreign guns, the US gun industry pursued federal action to curb the unregulated flow of imported firearms. However, the administration of the president Dwight Eisenhower decided that redirecting global gun stockpiles into the US was preferable to them arming communist insurgents worldwide. It was the Kennedy assassination, alongside rising crime rates across US cities, that finally prompted Congress to act. The senator Thomas Dodd introduced a bill in 1963 aimed at restricting mail-order firearms. These efforts culminated in the Gun Control Act of 1968, one of the most significant pieces of gun legislation in US history.

W hen considering explanations for Americans’ unique gun culture, Hofstadter thought that perhaps it emerged from the enduring national idea that access to arms counters tyranny. He was partly right. As the new historical evidence shows, it was post-Second World War economic prosperity, abundant supply of cheap guns, along with increased incomes, that made way for the unique gun culture of the US. Once that gun culture took root, it flourished, helped along by public policy. Hofstadter’s theory is consistent with the fact that the steady rise in gun prevalence from 1949 to 1990 was made possible by lenient regulations, upheld by voters who saw gun rights as a symbol of freedom and the right to self-defence.

With the extended data, we can see that Hofstadter wrote at a key moment in the US history of guns. For much of US history, guns were used mainly for recreation and hunting, but during the Cold War the nation turned towards a new era of gun culture. Hofstadter died in 1970, the same year as he wrote his piece on guns. He did not live to see the transformation in the ethos around gun ownership to one of celebration that carries on to the present day.

Hofstadter believed Americans armed themselves against tyranny from above, but today’s reality is different. Guns, primarily used for hunting and sport in the mid- 20th century, became largely owned for protection against fellow civilians – a reflection of a modern fear, the tyranny of uncertainty from each other.

In a country in which tens of millions of people own guns, public safety becomes a personal responsibility, and so individuals often decide that it is in their best interest to protect themselves by buying a gun. This desire to be protected against those who have guns by getting a gun, multiplied across millions of people, has resulted in an arms race that makes everyone less safe. Historical events along with policy choices have shaped this explosion in gun ownership, leading to a society in which many people have grown to associate guns with a sense of personal security. As a result, we hear all the time about guns being used in shared spaces of learning, worship and leisure.

State intervention to restrict gun availability can make a significant difference

In 1970, when thinking about how personal and political conflicts unfold in a nation with so many guns, Hofstadter asked: ‘How far must things go?’ Now, 54 years later, we can answer his question. In 2021, the US witnessed its highest number of gun deaths ever and, in 2023, its deadliest year for mass shootings. Alarming new trends include the rise of ghost guns – homemade guns made from unserialised parts, making them difficult to trace and regulate – and the increasing prevalence of military-grade automatic weapons in civilian hands. Gun ownership is only increasing, with one in five US households having purchased a gun during the COVID-19 pandemic, and new gun owners diversifying to include more women and people of colour. My friend Charles, a street outreach worker in Chicago who works with violence-involved youth, aptly summarised the situation: ‘The answer to more guns is more guns.’

This cycle of guns begetting more guns risks becoming the norm, unless there is concerted state action to reverse the trend. Research shows that state intervention to restrict gun availability can make a significant difference. By the 1990s, unprecedented crime rates prompted many US states to adopt gun restrictions that resulted in a substantial reduction in gun availability and saved tens of thousands of lives. Moreover, mass shootings in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom motivated their governments to implement commonsense gun regulations, including bans on automatic weapons and requirements for licensing and registration. The success of these interventions offers hope that the current situation is not immutable. However, despite this progress, recent years have witnessed a reversal in both state and federal gun-control efforts. Some states have eased or repealed laws, and in 2022 the US Supreme Court limited states’ ability to restrict gun access. This has likely contributed to the recent surge in firearm deaths, particularly among Black Americans .

Examining US history helps provide insights into the present. The recent spike in gun sales and the easing of firearm restrictions across the US warrant our attention, carrying implications that transcend generations and borders. Guns acquired during the 1990s crime surge have remained in communities with consequences for current generations, and account for one-10th of the life-expectancy gap between white and Black males today. Porous state borders enable the movement of guns from lenient jurisdictions to regions with stricter laws and elevated crime rates.

Today, Americans stand at a critical juncture, facing the consequences of a nation armed against outsiders and one another alike. To tackle this issue, individuals must reject the premise that more guns equate to greater safety. Guns, lasting for more than a century, extend their impact beyond individual households, affecting the collective wellbeing of communities. The prioritisation of individual gun rights in the US over community safety has become a danger to innocents. Americans are locked in a self-perpetuating arms race that makes all of us only less safe. The exceptional gun culture of the US demands a critical reassessment of the nation’s priorities and policies to ensure a safer future – one in which it’s known for something other than guns.

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Reducing gun violence: Stanford scholars tackle the issue

After 19 children and two teachers were slaughtered by a gunman at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, many Americans are asking, yet again, how to prevent future acts of senseless violence from occurring. What gun laws need to be changed? Why is it so difficult to pass regulations? How can Second Amendment rights be balanced with firearm safety? 

Stanford scholars have been studying these issues from a range of perspectives, including law, politics, economics, and medicine. Here are some of their findings.

Update: May 25, 2022: This story was originally published on Feb. 26, 2018, and has been updated to include new content.

Causes, impacts of gun violence

Uncovering the causes of gun violence has been a challenge, in part because research is limited by federal legislation that constrains research funding on the issue. Scholar Nigam Shah at the Stanford School of Medicine has written about how this has affected empirical study. But that has not deterred scholars from examining its impacts. David Studdert, also at the School of Medicine, has studied the devastating consequences of gun violence, particularly the risks it poses to public health.  

Maya Rossin-Slater, an associate professor of medicine and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), has also looked at the long-term impact of gun violence, specifically among American children who experienced a shooting at their school. Rossin-Slater found that they have higher rates of absenteeism, lower high school and college graduation rates, and by their mid-twenties, earn lower incomes.

Below is some of that research. 

Californians living with handgun owners more than twice as likely to die by homicide, study finds

Residents who don’t own a handgun but live with someone who does are significantly more likely to die by homicide compared with those in gun-free homes, research shows.

New study of gun violence in schools identifies long-term harms

Research from SIEPR’s Maya Rossin-Slater finds that students exposed to school shootings face “lasting, persistent” adversity in their educational and long-term economic outcomes.

Shirin Sinnar on the Buffalo shooting, hate crimes, and domestic terrorism

In the wake of the Buffalo shooting, Stanford Law School’s Shirin Sinnar discusses the scale of white supremacist violence in the U.S. and the rise of hate crimes.

Disconnect: The gap between gun violence and research in numbers

Gun violence is much discussed but little studied, largely due to federal decisions governing research funding. A new analysis highlights just how big the gap between the violence and our knowledge of it is. The answer? It’s huge.

Supporting students exposed to school shootings

Maya Rossin-Slater talks about her research into the mental health impact of severe school violence.

Panel discusses how shootings affect those unscathed by bullets

A panel of faculty members at the School of Medicine said shootings can affect the mental health of people close to the violence.

California handgun sales spiked after two mass shootings

In the six weeks after the Newtown and San Bernardino mass shootings, handguns sales jumped in California, yet there is little research on why – or on the implications for public health, according to a Stanford researcher.

Mass shootings: Public face of a much larger epidemic

While mass shootings have become the public face of gun violence, they account for less than 1% of the 40,000 firearm deaths each year.  

Short-term hospital readmissions for gun injuries cost $86 million a year

A study from Stanford researchers has found that readmissions account for 9.5% of the $911 million spent annually on gun-injury hospitalizations.

Supporting children through loss

Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann talks about how to help young people experiencing grief.

Firearm injuries in children, teens costly for U.S. health care system, Stanford study finds

The average cost of initial hospitalization to treat pediatric gun injuries is about $13,000 per patient and has risen in recent decades, a Stanford Medicine study found.

Investigating psychiatric illnesses of mass shooters

Ira Glick and his collaborators studied the psychiatric state of 35 mass shooters in the United States who survived the incidents, which took place between 1982 and 2019.

The silent cost of school shootings

SIEPR’s Maya Rossin-Slater finds the average rate of antidepressant use among youths under age 20 rose by 21 percent in the local communities where fatal school shootings occurred.

New study analyzes recent gun violence research

Consensus is growing in recent research evaluating the impact of right-to-carry concealed handgun laws, showing that they increase violent crime, despite what older research says.

Handgun ownership associated with much higher suicide risk

Men who own handguns are eight times more likely to die of gun suicides than men who don’t own handguns, and women who own handguns are 35 times more likely than women who don’t.

Advice on how to cope with the threat of school shootings

Victor Carrion offers advice on how families can cope with the stress of school safety.

Reducing gun violence

Many Americans are demanding practical steps to reduce gun crime. One way is to have more stringent gun safety policies, such as legislation requiring guns to be stored safely, more stringent background checks, or as President Biden announced Tuesday, a federal ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. 

Research has shown that states with tighter policies save lives: One study by Stephanie Chao found that states with stricter gun laws have lower rates of gun deaths among children and teenagers, and states with child prevention access laws are linked with fewer gun suicides in this age group.

“If you put more regulations on firearms, it does make a difference,” said Chao, assistant professor of surgery and senior author of the study. “It does end up saving children’s lives.” Her analysis found that states with the strictest laws had a mortality rate of 2.6 per 100,000 and for states with the least strict laws, mortality rate was almost double at 5.0 per 100,000.  

John Donohue: One tragic week with two mass shootings and the uniquely American gun problem

In a Q&A, Stanford Law School gun law expert John J. Donohue III discusses mass shootings in the U.S., the challenges facing police when confronting powerful automatic weapons and the prospect of gun safety laws.

Lax state gun laws linked to more child gun deaths

States with strict gun laws have lower rates of gun deaths among children and teenagers, and laws to keep guns away from minors are linked with fewer gun suicides in this age group, a Stanford study found.

Improved gun buyer background checks would impede some mass shootings, Stanford expert says

Stanford Law Professor John Donohue says a background check system that was universal and effectively operated could impede gun acquisition by people who commit mass shootings.

How to solve more gun crimes without spending more money

Simple tweaks to how police process bullet casings could dramatically improve their forensic data.

Reducing civilian firepower would boost police and community safety, Stanford expert says

In addition to restricting the firepower a person can amass, Stanford law Professor John J. Donohue advocates efforts to build trust between communities and law enforcement agencies as a way to enhance both police and citizen safety.

Stricter gun laws reduce child and adolescent gun deaths, Stanford study finds

Laws that keep guns away from young people are especially strongly linked to lower rates of gun suicides in youth.

Gun legislation and policy

For nearly three decades, law Professor John Donohue III has studied what can be done to prevent gun violence in the United States. A lawyer and economist, Donohue explores how law and public policy are connected to gun violence, including how gun laws in the U.S. compare to other countries, as well as how legislation varies across the states, to better understand the effect that has on rates of violence. 

“The U.S. is by far the world leader in the number of guns in civilian hands,” Donohue explained . “The stricter gun laws of other ‘advanced countries’ have restrained homicidal violence, suicides and gun accidents – even when, in some cases, laws were introduced over massive protests from their armed citizens.” 

Here are some of his findings, and other research related to legislating gun safety in the U.S.

Stanford’s John Donohue on guns, mass shootings and the law in the U.S.

On Nov. 30, American students were once again the victims of a school shooting. Stanford law Professor John Donohue discusses the case and gun violence in the U.S.

How U.S. gun control compares to the rest of the world

While deaths from mass shootings are a relatively small part of the overall homicidal violence in America, they are particularly wrenching. The problem is worse in the U.S. than in most other industrialized nations. And it’s getting worse.

4 gun control steps U.S. needs now

John Donohue pens an opinion piece for CNN laying out four steps the United States should take to strengthen gun legislation.

Violent crime increases in right-to-carry states

Stanford Law School Professor John Donohue found that states that adopted right-to-carry concealed handgun laws have experienced a 13 to 15 percent increase in violent crime in the 10 years after enacting those laws.

Another mass shooting: An update on U.S. gun laws

In a Q&A, John Donohue discusses gun safety law and legislative developments.

Stanford GSE holds teach-in on research into gun violence in schools

Education scholars look at the evidence behind policy ideas to address school shootings.

Will Americans ever think differently about guns?

Stanford medicine and law professor David Studdert thinks more public health evidence is needed before cultural attitudes around gun safety and violence will change.

Guns in America: Foundations and Key Concepts

This non-exhaustive list of readings on the role of guns in US history and society introduces the field as a subject of scholarly inquiry.

Jumping into the scholarly literature on guns and gun violence in the United States can be intimidating, both because of the range of disciplines that address the subject and because of the intensity of debate over a few contentious questions. A non-exhaustive list of fields contributing to “US gun studies” would include not only my own field of history but also public policy, legal studies, criminology, sociology, political science, literature, and public health. Despite the diversity of applicable disciplines, they have gravitated toward a few central questions. Some fields are interested in the origins of US “gun culture,” its relationship to the founding generation, the Second Amendment, or the rapid development of the country in the nineteenth century. Others are oriented toward contemporary issues, typically those like the role of firearms in the United States’ exceptional levels of violence among wealthy countries.

Eight years ago I was a historian of the twentieth-century United States with no background in gun studies but with an interest in the field related to a new project. Now I’m writing a new book, Gun Country: How Gun Culture, Control, and Consumerism Created an Armed Mass Movement in Cold War America , for the University of North Carolina Press. The following key works from a number of disciplines, while not exhaustive, have nevertheless helped orient me to central questions in the field, and they serve as a strong introduction to what scholars have accomplished.

Philip J. Cook, “ The Great American Gun War: Notes from Four Decades in the Trenches .” Crime and Justice , 2013 Cook is a renowned public policy scholar at Duke University who has spent decades publishing in the field of gun studies. This article provides an overview to that field. He notes at the outset that less than fifty years ago, observers bemoaned the lack of critical research on guns and gun violence in American society. Since then, the field has made impressive strides. Cook sets up two “fronts” on which the scholarly battles play out in what he calls the “Great American Gun War”: first, a cohort of mostly social scientists that studies the political, social, economic, and cultural impact of guns in the United States; and second, a group of mostly historians and legal scholars that debates the “true meaning” of the Second Amendment.

Frank Zimring, “ Is Gun Control Likely to Reduce Violent Killings? ” University of Chicago Law Review , 1968 Zimring is one of the founders of the scholarly field of gun studies, and this 1968 article is among its foundational texts. When he began writing at the University of Chicago Law School (today he continues to work at the University of California, Berkeley), there was almost no scholarly research on guns and their impact on crime and daily life in the United States. In 1968 Zimring worked on the underappreciated but important U.S. National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, appointed by President Lyndon Johnson after the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. Zimring served as a research director on the commission and coauthored Firearms & Violence in American Life (1969), the first comprehensive report of its kind. He has long argued, across hundreds of articles and many books, that guns are the essential element in explaining the unique lethality of US violence.

David J. Silverman, “ Guns, Empires and Indians .” Aeon , 2016 Two recent extraordinary books—David J. Silverman’s Thundersticks (2016) and Priya Satia’s Empire of Guns (2018)—have expanded our chronological and spatial understanding of North American gun history. This article by Silverman and the one below by Satia neatly encapsulate the important arguments each makes. Silverman’s book traces how Native Americans from the seventeenth century built their societies around firearms, access to which could determine the fate of a particular group or nation against its rivals. As he writes here, Indians lived in “a world awash with guns and, with it, waves of terrible gun violence.” The article tells one story of the Mohawks in the 1630s that demonstrates that deterministic narratives about Indian societies and “guns, germs, and steel” are too simplistic and fail to account for the way those societies adapted to and even thrived with new technologies.

Priya Satia, “ Guns and the British Empire .” Aeon , 2018 In the prize-winning Empire of Guns (2018), Satia writes of the significance of the firearms industry to the rapid growth of the industrial revolution in Great Britain. In this article she draws our attention not to the American colonies but the empire on the other side of the world, in South Asia, where British authorities intentionally stifled the growth of a well-respected Indian domestic arms industry, believing their own economic success required Indian dependency on the British technology and know-how.

Sanford Levinson, “ The Embarrassing Second Amendment .” Yale Law Journal , 1989 While gun rights proponents today are quick to point to the Second Amendment as the foundation for their individual right to own a gun—a  right only confirmed for the first time by the US Supreme Court in the controversial 2008 D.C. v. Heller decision—for much of US history, Americans generally neglected this constitutional provision. Well into the 1970s, the general legal and academic consensus was that it was a relic of the eighteenth century, a restriction on the federal government’s ability to deny the states the right to arm militias in light of contemporaneous fears of standing armies commanded by tyrants. With the creation of the modern National Guard at the turn of the twentieth century, the amendment appeared moribund, and the 1939 United States v. Miller decision seemed to confirm it.

But beginning in the 1960s, a concerted effort among a cohort of right-leaning legal scholars began publishing essays, mostly in law school journals, arguing that the amendment had long been misinterpreted—in reality, they wrote, the founders intended to confer an individual right to own a firearm independent of service in a militia. This article by Sanford Levinson, a celebrated liberal legal scholar, drew attention to this changing understanding of the amendment, arguing that legal scholarship may have long been motivated not by an attempt to understand the founders’ intent but instead by scholars’ own political leanings. The article was an important turning point for the mainstreaming of what came to be called the “Standard Model” of the Second Amendment: the idea that the founders intended for it to confer an individual right to firearms ownership independent of military service.

Saul Cornell, “ ‘Half-Cocked’: The Persistence of Anachronism and Presentism in the Academic Debate Over the Second Amendment .” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology , 2016 Reading this article by Saul Cornell, a historian at Fordham University who authored the most important historical monograph on the Second Amendment, A Well-Regulated Militia (2006), feels like stepping into the middle of a years-long argument. The article is Cornell’s response to a prominent legal scholar, James Lindgren, who had recently written dismissively of historical interpretations of the Second Amendment in the wake of the 2008 Heller ruling. To an outsider, much of the discussion is impenetrable, but that’s in part why it’s worth reading: the reader feels the tension and the import of the debate in all its arcane details. The article also captures the disciplinary divide on this subject between historians and legal scholars. Historians can be snappily contemptuous of legal scholars’ sloppy research and cherry-picked quotes, while legal scholars can sneer at historians’ insistence on seemingly tenuous contextual arguments. Plus, the footnotes are an essential bibliography in their own right.

Robert H. Churchill, “ Guns and the Politics of History .” Reviews in American History , 2001 The elephant in the room of US gun history and historiography is Michael Bellesiles’s Arming America (2000), a book about gun culture in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that promised to reshape not just the historical debate about guns in American society but the contemporary one, too. It made a splash, for sure, winning, among other awards, the Bancroft Prize, the historical profession’s most significant achievement for a monograph. But quickly Bellesiles’s fame became infamy, as a small army of mostly pro-gun researchers combed through his voluminous footnotes and discovered too many inconsistencies to simply write off as carelessness. Eventually an independent blue-ribbon committee concluded that Bellesiles may have falsified some of his research, and the author was stripped of the award and resigned from his position at Emory University. In this detailed review, which appeared before the scandal, Churchill, a libertarian-leaning historian of gun culture, takes Bellesiles to task for a number of research and interpretive issues. Despite the high level of scholarly discourse, contemporary gun politics is always simmering beneath the surface.

Randolph Roth, “ Guns, Gun Culture, and Homicide: The Relationship between Firearms, the Uses of Firearms, and Interpersonal Violence .” William and Mary Quarterly , 2002 The Bellesiles scandal involved the question of “counting guns” in early America and the sources that Bellesiles used (or, as critics said, fabricated) to do so. Bellesiles argued that high levels of US gun violence were a consequence of its “gun culture,” which he claimed did not exist until manufacturers invented it in the mid-nineteenth century. In this article, Roth, author of American Homicide (2009) and a historian who utilizes social science methods to examine violence across US history, tests Bellesiles’s claim of the relationship between gun proliferation and violence. Roth’s meticulous work again points to inconsistencies and problems in Bellesiles’s research and conclusions.

Brian DeLay, “ How Not to Arm a State: American Guns and the Crisis of Governance in Mexico, Nineteenth and Twenty-First Centuries .” Southern California Quarterly , 2013 DeLay’s article, which offers reflections on the transnational history of Mexico since the early nineteenth century, demonstrates the best kind of work a historian can do: take a contemporary problem—in this case the “Iron River of Guns,” the deadly present-day flow of firearms from the United States into Mexico, where most gun purchasing and ownership is illegal—and connect it to a longer history to help us better understand past and present. As DeLay shows, the movement of firearms across the United States’ southern border has long affected the stability of governance and civil society in Mexico. DeLay’s reflections on this long history bring to mind the quip attributed to turn-of-the-century president Porfirio Díaz about his country: “so far from God, so close to the United States”—and its guns.

Robert R. Dykstra, “ Quantifying the Wild West: The Problematic Statistics of Frontier Violence. ” Western Historical Quarterly , 2009 Dykstra presents another way in which historians can contribute to broader public understanding of the past: they can assess and dismantle inherited mythologies that often obscure the truth more than illuminate it. In his work across several decades, Dykstra has confronted mythologies about the American frontier. Here he writes about the mythologies of violence in the so-called Wild West. Such mythologies have been central to gun culture, leading many Americans today to believe that phenomena like high rates of gun violence or social practices like the open or concealed carry of firearms connect them to popular eighteenth- and nineteenth-century traditions. In reality, gun death rates in frontier towns we identify with the “Wild West” were quite low, in large part because those towns imposed restrictions we’d think of today as gun control.

Akinyele Omowale Umoja, “ ‘We Will Shoot Back’: The Natchez Model and Paramilitary Organization in the Mississippi Freedom Movement .” Journal of Black Studies , 2002 There is a rich and growing literature on the links between the Black freedom movement and firearms across US history. Umoja has authored one of the best monographs in that genre, We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement (2013), which evolved from this article. Here he writes of the case of paramilitary organizations supporting the freedom movement in the town of Natchez. Umoja’s work, along with that of Charles E. Cobb Jr. and Timothy B. Tyson, among others, has complicated our understanding of the postwar Black freedom movement, which is often simplistically framed as a dichotomy between Martin Luther King’s “peaceful” movement and more militant figures like Malcolm X and groups like the Black Panthers.

Jennifer Carlson, “ Mourning Mayberry: Guns, Masculinity, and Socioeconomic Decline .” Gender and Society , 2015 Carlson is a sociologist who has published two of the most important and innovative recent monographs in gun studies: Citizen-Protectors (2015) and Policing the Second Amendment (2020). This article derives from the former, which examines the practice of armed carry among mostly men, white and Black, in the greater Detroit area. Carlson offers a portrayal that is both critical and empathetic, locating the inspiration for armed carry among men in a feeling of social breakdown and national decline that has challenged men’s identities as family protectors and community guardians.

David Yamane, “ Gun Culture 2.0 and the Great Gun-Buying Spree of 2020 .” Discourse , 2021 Yamane is another sociologist doing innovative and provocative work to help scholars understand the role of guns in American society. He has written widely about the concept of “Gun Culture 2.0,” the shift from hunting and shooting sports to self-defense, which coincides with some evidence of the increasing diversity of US gun ownership. In this article he addresses the most prominent recent development in gun culture—the 2020 gun-buying boom, a remarkable shopping spree, spurred by the pandemic and a summer of protest against police brutality, that was unprecedented even in a country accustomed to them.

David Hemenway, “ The Public Health Approach to Motor Vehicles, Tobacco, and Alcohol, with Applications to Firearms Policy .” Journal of Public Health Policy , 2001 Gun control proponents frequently describe gun violence as a “public health problem,” and there has been extensive research to support that claim. David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, is among the most prolific scholars advocating such an approach. In this article, he compares the failure to acknowledge firearms as a public health problem to the ways public health professionals have approached three other consumer goods that the public has generally agreed present sufficient dangers to require consistent federal regulation. Of course, the catch, critics often observe, is that there is no mention of motor vehicles, tobacco, or alcohol in the US Constitution.

Erin Grinshteyn and David Hemenway, “ Violent Death Rates: The US Compared with Other High-Income OECD Countries, 2010 .” American Journal of Medicine , 2016 It’s worth concluding a concise list of sources illuminating gun culture and gun violence in the United States with a glance overseas. It is a truism of the gun control movement that the United States is an outlier in both gun ownership and violent death rates, and there is a causative relationship between the two. Here, Grinshsteyn and Hemenway offer empirical confirmation. The most reasonable explanation for the United States’ high levels of violent death is its population’s extraordinary access to firearms.

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• America’s Complex Relationship With Guns

An in-depth look at the attitudes and experiences of U.S. adults

Table of contents.

• 1. The demographics of gun ownership
• 2. Guns and daily life: Identity, experiences, activities and involvement
• 3. Views of gun safety and the key responsibilities of gun owners
• 4. Views of guns and gun violence
• 5. Views on gun policy
• Acknowledgments
• Methodology

For the most recent data on gun owners, read our 2023 report “ For Most U.S. Gun Owners, Protection Is the Main Reason They Own a Gun .”

As a nation, the U.S. has a deep and enduring connection to guns. Integrated into the fabric of American society since the country’s earliest days, guns remain a point of pride for many Americans. Whether for hunting, sport shooting or personal protection, most gun owners count the right to bear arms as central to their freedom. At the same time, the results of gun-related violence have shaken the nation, and debates over gun policy remain sharply polarized.

A new Pew Research Center survey attempts to better understand the complex relationship Americans have with guns and how that relationship intersects with their policy views.

The survey finds that Americans have broad exposure to guns, whether they personally own one or not. At least two-thirds have lived in a household with a gun at some point in their lives. And roughly seven-in-ten – including 55% of those who have never personally owned a gun – say they have fired a gun at some point. Today, three-in-ten U.S. adults say they own a gun, and an additional 36% say that while they don’t own one now, they might be open to owning a gun in the future. A third of adults say they don’t currently own a gun and can’t see themselves ever doing so.

To be sure, experiences with guns aren’t always positive: 44% of U.S. adults say they personally know someone who has been shot, either accidentally or intentionally, and about a quarter (23%) say they or someone in their family have been threatened or intimidated by someone using a gun. Half see gun violence as a very big problem in the U.S. today, although gun owners and non-owners offer divergent views on this.

Gun owners and non-owners are also deeply divided on several gun policy proposals, but there is agreement on some restrictions, such as preventing those with mental illnesses and those on federal watch lists from buying guns. Among gun owners, there is a diversity of views on gun policy, driven in large part by party affiliation.

The nationally representative survey of 3,930 U.S. adults, including 1,269 gun owners, was conducted March 13 to 27 and April 4 to 18, 2017, using the Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel . 1 Among the key findings:

The ties that bind gun owners to their firearms are often deep

A majority of gun owners (66%) own multiple firearms, and about three-quarters (73%) say they could never see themselves not owning a gun.

Many American gun owners exist in a social context where gun ownership is the norm. Roughly half of all gun owners (49%) say that all or most of their friends own guns. In stark contrast, among those who don’t own a gun, only one-in-ten say that all or most of their friends own guns.

Experience with guns starts relatively early particularly for those who grew up in a gun-owning household. Men who grew up in a household with guns and who have ever shot a gun report that they first fired a gun when they were, on average, 12 years old. Among women who grew up in gun-owning households and who have ever shot a gun, the average age at which they first fired a gun is 17. Men tend to become gun owners at an earlier age than women: 19 years old, on average, vs. 27 years old for women.

For most gun owners, owning a firearm is tied to their personal freedom

One key and defining characteristic of gun owners is the extent to which they associate the right to own guns with their own personal sense of freedom – 74% of gun owners say this right is essential, compared with only 35% of non-gun owners who say the same.

While the right to own guns is highly valued by most gun owners, not all gun owners see gun ownership the same way. Half of all gun owners say owning a gun is important to their overall identity – with 25% saying this is very important and another 25% calling it somewhat important. Three-in-ten gun owners say owning a gun is not too important to their identity and 20% say it’s not at all important.

White men are especially likely to be gun owners, but ownership crosses demographic boundaries

About half of white men (48%) say they own a gun. By comparison, about a quarter of white women and nonwhite men (24% each) own guns, along with 16% of nonwhite women. 2  There is also an education gap in gun ownership and that, too, is particularly pronounced among whites: 41% of whites without a bachelor’s degree are gun owners, compared with about a quarter of whites with at least a bachelor’s degree (26%).

Geographically, gun ownership is less concentrated in the Northeast than in other regions in the country, and there is a vast urban-rural divide across regions. Among adults who live in rural areas, 46% say they own a gun. By comparison, 28% of adults who live in the suburbs and even fewer – 19% – in urban areas own a gun.

The demographics of gun ownership

Male gun owners tend to be more immersed in gun culture than their female counterparts

From hunting and shooting to visiting gun-related websites and watching gun-oriented TV programs, there are many activities available to gun enthusiasts. About half of gun owners (52%) say they go shooting or to a gun range often or sometimes; 34% go hunting and 24% attend gun shows at least sometimes.

When it comes to gun-oriented media, roughly four-in-ten gun owners (39%) report that they at least sometimes watch TV shows and videos about guns, and 35% visit websites about guns, hunting or other shooting sports. Gun-related podcasts, radio shows and online discussion forums are less popular: About one-in-ten gun owners say they listen to gun-oriented podcasts or radio shows (11%) or participate in online discussion forums about guns (10%) at least sometimes.

Male gun owners are more likely than women who own guns to engage in some of these activities. For example, 58% of men who own guns say they go shooting or to a gun range at least sometimes, compared with 43% of female gun owners. Men also hunt at higher rates than women and watch more gun-oriented TV shows or videos.

Consistent with their more frequent engagement in gun-related activities, male gun owners are more socially connected to other gun owners than their female counterparts: 54% of men who own guns say all or most of their friends are also gun owners, while 40% of women say the same.

Protection tops the list of reasons for owning a gun

Two-thirds of gun owners say protection is a major reason they own a gun. By comparison, about four-in-ten (38%) cite hunting as a major reason and three-in-ten cite sport shooting, including target shooting, trap and skeet. Fewer point to a gun collection (13%) or to their job (8%) as being central to why they own a gun. To be sure, for many gun owners, these reasons overlap: 44% offer more than one major reason for owning a gun.

Roughly one-in-seven adults who own or have owned a gun (15%) say they have fired or threatened to fire a gun to defend themselves, their family or their possessions.

Regardless of the reasons for owning a gun, most gun owners don’t think their having a firearm is public business, but they also aren’t going out of their way to hide the fact that they own a gun. Eight-in-ten gun owners say they don’t mind if other people know they own a gun, but they don’t set out to tell them; 14% say they’d rather other people not know that they have a firearm, and 6% actively do want others to know.

For many gun owners, a gun is often close at hand

Roughly four-in-ten gun owners (38%) say there is a gun that is both loaded and easily accessible to them all of the time when they’re at home. Men are especially likely to have a loaded gun at the ready: 43% of male gun owners vs. 29% of women who own guns say a loaded gun is always easily accessible.

Overall, about seven-in-ten gun owners say they own a handgun or a pistol (72%), while 62% say they own a rifle and 54% own a shotgun. Handguns are more common among those who own a gun for protection.

Among those who own a handgun, about one-in-four (26%) say they carry their gun with them outside of their home all or most of the time, a share that rises to 41% among those who think of their local community as unsafe.

When it comes to gun safety in homes with children, there are some areas of agreement about key precautions

Of the many possible safety precautions gun owners could take when they live with children in the home, three receive majority support from both non-owners and those who currently own a firearm. Nearly all gun owners (95%) believe that talking to children about gun safety is essential, followed by 66% who say all guns should be kept in a locked place when there are children living in the home, and 59% who say gun owners who are parents should take a gun safety course. Majorities of non-gun owners also say these are essential measures for gun owners with children in the home.

The majority of Americans who don’t own guns feel it is also essential for gun owners with children living in the home to keep their guns unloaded and in a separate spot from the ammunition. Gun owners disagree. Majorities say these measures are either important but not essential or not important, even in households with children.

When asked about their own habits, roughly half of gun owners with children under 18 living at home say all of the guns in their home are kept in a locked place (54%) and all are unloaded (53%).

Still, many gun owners with children say at least some of their guns are kept unlocked and loaded. In fact, 30% of these gun owners say there is a gun that is both loaded and easily accessible to them all of the time when they’re at home.

Americans who own guns largely disagree with non-owners on gun policy, but some proposals have support from both groups

Solid majorities of both gun owners and non-owners favor limiting access to guns for people with mental illnesses and individuals who are on the federal no-fly or watch lists (82% or higher favor among each group). In addition, strong majorities favor background checks for private sales and at gun shows (77% among gun owners and 87% among non-owners).

The groups are more divided when it comes to three other policy proposals: creating a federal database to track gun sales; banning assault-style weapons; and banning high-capacity magazines. Even so, significant shares of gun owners are open to these proposals. Roughly half of gun owners (54%) say they would favor creating a federal database, and 48% favor a ban on assault weapons. Some 44% of gun owners favor banning high-capacity magazines. Support for these proposals is much higher among non-gun owners, with about three-quarters or more saying they would support each of these proposals.

At the same time, majorities of gun owners favor proposals that would expand gun rights, such as allowing people to carry concealed guns in more places and allowing teachers and school officials to carry guns in K-12 schools – proposals that are each supported by only about a third of non-owners.

Even among gun owners, Republicans and Democrats don’t see eye to eye on gun policy

There is a partisan divide in gun ownership: More than four-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are gun owners (44%), compared with 20% of Democrats and independents who lean Democratic.

There is also a partisan divide on views of gun policy, and these differences remain even after controlling for gun ownership. For example, Republican gun owners are much more resistant than Democratic gun owners to creating a database to track gun sales and banning assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines. On the flip side, Republicans are also more open to proposals that would expand gun rights. A prime example: 82% of Republican gun owners favor expanding concealed carry laws to more places, compared with 41% of their Democratic counterparts.

Republican gun owners are about twice as likely as Democratic gun owners to say owning a gun is essential to their freedom (91% vs. 43%), and there are also behavioral differences between these two groups. For example, Republican handgun owners are more likely than their Democratic counterparts to say they carry their gun with them, even if only some of the time (63% vs. 45%). Fully 55% of Democrats who own a handgun say they never carry.

At the most basic level, gun owners and non-owners disagree on the extent to which gun violence is a problem in the U.S.

Half of Americans describe gun violence as a very big problem in the United States, but the perceptions of gun owners and those who don’t own guns differ considerably. While a majority of those who do not own guns (59%) see gun violence as a major problem in the country today, a third of adults who own guns say this is a very big problem. Democrats and Republicans also offer different assessments, with Democrats far more likely to describe gun violence as a very big problem, and the partisan divide remains when controlling for gun ownership.

Americans see many factors as playing a role in gun violence in the country today. Fully 86% say the ease with which people can illegally obtain guns contributes to gun violence a great deal or a fair amount; more than half say the same about family instability (74%), lack of economic opportunities (65%), the amount of gun violence in video games (60%), the ease with which people can legally obtain guns (60%), and the amount of gun violence in movies and television (55%).

Gun owners and non-owners alike point to the ease with which people can illegally obtain guns as a major contributor to gun violence in the U.S., but opinions diverge when it comes to guns obtained legally . Two-thirds of non-gun owners see the ease with which people can legally obtain guns as contributing at least a fair amount to gun violence; less than half (44%) of gun owners share this view.

It follows that non-gun owners are much more likely than gun owners to say further restricting legal gun sales would result in fewer mass shootings (56% vs. 29%); and non-gun owners are also more likely to say an increase in gun ownership would lead to more crime overall (44% vs. 13%). For their part, 54% of gun owners say there would be less crime if more people owned guns, and 33% say it wouldn’t make much difference.

About a quarter of U.S. adults say they or someone in their family have been threatened or intimidated by someone using a gun

Many Americans (44%) say they personally know someone who has been shot, either accidentally or intentionally. This is particularly common among black adults, 57% of whom say they know someone who has been shot; about four-in-ten whites (43%) and Hispanics (42%) say the same.

Higher share of gun owners (51%) than non-owners (40%) report that they know someone who has been shot, either accidentally or intentionally.

Separately, about a quarter of Americans (23%) – including roughly equal shares of gun owners and non-owners – say they or someone in their family have been threatened or intimidated by someone using a gun. Again, blacks are more likely than whites to say they have had this experience: About a third of blacks (32%) say they or someone in their family have been threatened or intimidated by someone with a gun, compared with 20% of whites. About a quarter of Hispanics (24%) say this has happened to them or to someone else in their family.

Roughly one-in-five gun owners belongs to the NRA

Overall, 19% of all U.S. gun owners say they belong to the NRA. Republican and Republican-leaning gun owners are twice as likely as Democratic and Democratic-leaning gun owners to say they belong to the NRA (24% vs. 11%). And, among Republicans, conservatives have significantly higher rates of membership – 28% vs. 17% of moderate or liberal Republicans.

The public is divided when it comes to the amount of influence the NRA has over guns laws in the U.S. While 44% of all adults say the NRA has too much influence over gun legislation, 40% say it has the right amount of influence. Relatively few (15%) say the NRA has too little influence.

For their part, NRA members are largely satisfied with the amount of influence the organization has over gun laws in the U.S. About six-in-ten (63%) say the NRA has the right amount of influence and 28% say it has too little influence. Only 9% of NRA members say the organization has too much influence over gun laws. Among non-gun owners, 50% view the NRA as too influential.

Gun owners are more likely than non-gun owners to have ever contacted a public official to express their opinion on gun policy. About one-in-five gun owners (21%) say they have done this, compared with 12% of non-gun owners.

The remainder of this report examines in greater detail the public’s experiences with guns as well as views on gun policies. Chapter 1 looks at the demographics of gun ownership and the reasons people own guns. It also explores early experiences with guns, such as growing up in a gun-owning household and participating in hunting or sport shooting. Chapter 2 focuses on the role guns have in the daily life of gun owners, including whether they carry a gun outside their home, how often they engage in gun-related activities or consume gun-oriented media, and their social ties to other gun owners. It also looks at negative experiences some people have had with guns. Chapter 3 examines the public’s views on the responsibilities of gun ownership, with an emphasis on the differences between what gun owners and non-owners consider essential safety measures for gun owners to follow. Chapter 4  explores what Americans see as contributing factors to gun violence. Chapter 5  focuses on the public’s views on policy proposals to restrict or expand access to guns.

Terminology

Unless otherwise specified, “guns” refers to firearms and not to airsoft guns, such as paintball, BB or pellet guns.

“Gun owners” are those who say they personally own one or more guns. “Non-owners who live in a gun-owning household” are those who say they do not personally own any guns, but someone else in their household does.

Those who did not grow up with guns in the home includes those who say, as far as they know, there were never any guns in their household when they were growing up or they are not sure if there were guns in their household when they were growing up.

Those who are said to have children in the household or at home are those who are a parent or guardian to a child younger than 18 who lives in their household.

References to college graduates or people with a college degree comprise those with a bachelor’s degree or more. “Some college” refers to those with a two-year degree or those who attended college but did not obtain a degree. “High school” refers to those who have attained a high school diploma or its equivalent, such as a General Education Development (GED) certificate.

References to whites and blacks include only those who are non-Hispanic and identify as only one race. Hispanics are of any race.

All references to party affiliation, excluding one reference in chapter 1, include those who lean toward that party: Republicans include those who say they lean toward the Republican Party and Democrats include those who say they lean toward the Democratic Party.

References to adults who live in an urban, suburban or rural area are based on an analysis that takes into account the density of the area where they live based on their address or the location of their telephone number or their ZIP code if they didn’t provide an address. For a more detailed explanation of how community type was coded, see the Methodology section of the report.

• For more details, see the Methodology section of the report. ↩
• The sample of blacks and Hispanics in the survey is too small to analyze black and Hispanic men and black and Hispanic women separately. ↩

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Essays on Race and Guns in America

• January 04, 2022
• Categories:
• Public Carry
• Scholarship
• Second Amendment
• Stand Your Ground
• Supreme Court

By: Jacob Charles

We are excited to begin rolling out the essays from the Center’s recent roundtable on Race and Guns in America . The essays are impressively rich and thoughtful, offering various descriptions and diagnoses (and some prescriptions) for the persistent problems that arise in a country flooded with guns and saturated with systemic racism.

Starting tomorrow, we will publish one essay each day on the blog (excluding Mondays, when we publish the SCOTUS Gun Watch), with an accompanying link to a PDF version of the post. The titles of the essays are below, and we’ll update this page with the final links to all the essays once the series is complete.  [Updated with links.]

We are very grateful to the authors for their time, contributions, and engaging dialogue on a difficult subject.

• Daniel S. Harawa, The Racial Justice Gambit
• Margareth Etienne, Disarming the Police: Blue Lives, Black Lives and Guns
• Lindsay Livingston, From Self-Defense to Self-Deputization: Defensive Gun Use and the Performance of Reasonable Belief
• Gregory S. Parks, When CRT Meets 2A
• Angela R. Riley, Native Nations and The Right to Bear Arms in a Post McGirt World
• Pratheepan Gulasekaram, “The People”, Citizenship, and Firearms
• Patrick J. Charles, Some Thoughts on Addressing Racist History in the Second Amendment Context
• Kami Chavis, The Dangerous Expansion of Stand-Your-Ground Laws and its Racial Implications
• David E. Olson, Illegal Firearm Possession: A Reflection on Policies and Practices that May Miss the Mark and Exacerbate Racial Disparity in the Justice System
• Brennan Gardner Rivas, The Problem with Assumptions: Reassessing the Historical Gun Policies of Arkansas and Tennessee

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We’ve Spent Over a Decade Researching Guns in America. This Is What We Learned.

We can find real solutions to gun violence if we recognize the trauma it causes.

By Madison Armstrong and Jennifer Carlson

Ms. Armstrong and Dr. Carlson research gun violence, gun policy and gun culture. Dr. Carlson is the author of “Policing the Second Amendment” and “Citizen-Protectors.”

In the span of a week, two acts of public violence have stolen the lives of 18 people and provided a stark reminder of the mass gun violence that characterized the pre-Covid United States — and that looms with the end of the pandemic. In the first, a gunman, acting within a broader context of anti-Asian misogyny, went to three Atlanta-area massage businesses, taking the lives of eight people. The second, in Boulder, Colo., occurred at a grocery store — one of the few places people still congregate during the pandemic — as some went about their shopping and others eagerly waited to be vaccinated.

Gun violence did not go away during 2020. Gun homicides jumped 25 percent from the year before , apparently fueled in part by a rise in intimate-partner violence. Some people have approached the possibility of becoming a victim of violence, including anti-Asian hate crime , with what could be characterized as an act of anticipatory trauma: purchasing a firearm . This isn’t unprecedented. Americans have long turned to firearms as both a last (if not first) resort for addressing uncertainty, precarity and insecurity in a country that largely lacks a collective social safety net.

It is also not uncommon to find victims of gun violence turning to precisely the tool of their victimization — the gun — to cope in the aftermath. In the United States, people often reach for more guns as a response to mass shootings and in anticipation of needing a method of home protection, but also — as we saw in 2020 and into 2021 — in response to presidential elections, political unrest and mass-scale infectious disease .

Gun violence entails immediate physical trauma, but it also elicits forms of trauma that can ricochet far beyond its initial target. If we understand trauma as social, psychological and physical responses to experiences that cannot be assimilated into an individual’s existing understandings of themselves and the world around them, then gun trauma goes far beyond the roughly 40,000 lives taken by gun violence every year and the approximately 115,000 people harmed by guns.

Those figures by themselves are strikingly inadequate for understanding the reach of gun violence. Having someone taken through gun violence, surviving gun violence oneself, even hearing gunshots tears at our basic sense of safety, of security and of self. Research has found that surviving or being exposed to gun violence survival is associated with an increased risk of symptoms linked to PTSD (including anxiety and depression) in both urban and rural contexts; short-term decreases in reading ability, vocabulary and impulse control ; unemployment and substance use ; and even shifts in friendship formation — toward protection-seeking and avoidance.

This trauma has a broad toll, unevenly borne. More than 240,000 students (including a disproportionate number of Black students) have experienced gun violence at school since the 1999 Columbine shooting, while socioeconomically underserved communities of color disproportionately bear the brunt of gun violence. Black boys and young men ages 15 to 34 are more than 20 times more likely to die of gun homicide than their white counterparts.

While gun trauma most certainly shapes the aftermath of shootings, it also shapes our day-to-day decisions and sensibilities far beyond specific acts of gun violence. Gun trauma is part of the fabric of American society, intersecting with the cruel rules of racial inequality and prejudice to shape where we choose to live (if we are lucky enough to have that choice), how parents talk to their children about the possibility of gun violence, how kids think about their schools as places of learning and places of danger, and whether the police are viewed as protectors or yet another source of gun violence.

Many people recognized that the lull in mass public shootings during 2020 brought on by the pandemic response would eventually end. The violence that we have seen in the past two weeks in the Atlanta area and Boulder points us to a different kind of gun debate — one that recognizes the cyclical nature of gun trauma while also recognizing that many gun policies are also counterproductive. Policies that purport to end the trauma of gun violence by increasing the punitive surveillance of individuals with mental illness, increasing police presence and surveillance of students at schools or bringing more people into contact with the criminal justice system may ultimately create more, if different, trauma.

This trauma-violence cycle cannot break itself — but certainly has the power to break us. Between the two of us, we authors have spent nearly a decade and a half researching guns in America, studying the media that cover guns, the police who enforce gun laws, the gun sellers and instructors who make a living from firearms, the gun carriers who embrace guns as tools of safety and the gun violence survivors whose lives are irreparably remade through gun violence.

Whether we were researching gun violence, gun culture or gun policy, we have found ourselves returning repeatedly to the same theme: Gun trauma is implicated in how guns harm us, why we turn to guns, and — to the extent that we depend on punitive criminal justice approaches to address it — how we attempt to solve the problem of gun violence.

We must dismantle this trauma-violence cycle, and the first step is centering gun trauma within the gun debate and addressing gun violence accordingly. On the edges of the gun debate, and often outside the purview of public attention, exist examples of what this might look like: the Community Justice Action Fund and Revolve Impact’s By Design campaign , which aims to “change the conversation” on gun violence by elevating leaders of color to “interrupt systems of violence and ultimately build power for communities most impacted by gun violence”; the Gun Shop Project , a collaboration among gun sellers, instructors, and mental health and public health practitioners to address gun suicide by increasing awareness about suicide prevention and destigmatizing mental illness; the Khadafy Washington Project of Youth ALIVE!, which brings trauma-informed resources to families and friends of homicide victims to “prevent retaliation and promote healing.”

Each of these initiatives opens space for recognizing trauma as central to understanding and addressing gun violence without reliance on punitive apparatuses (such as the criminal justice system) that may exacerbate, rather than ameliorate, people’s experiences of trauma.

Approaching guns from the perspective of trauma will require some imagination — and some courage. In the days and weeks to come, we will be tempted to double down on our usual agendas and party lines. We should embrace evidence-based policies to reduce gun violence. But we can’t stop there. Addressing gun violence in the spaces where we live our lives — our grocery stores, our workplaces, our schools, our streets and our homes — requires addressing the damage gun trauma inflicts on our souls, retooling our familiar agendas, letting go of partisanship and remembering that we share a basic vulnerability as humans that can unite us or, if we choose, divide us further.

Madison Armstrong is a graduate student in sociology at the University of Arizona. Jennifer Carlson ( @jdawncarlson ) is an associate professor of sociology and government and public policy at the University of Arizona and the author, most recently, of “Policing the Second Amendment: Guns, Law Enforcement, and the Politics of Race.”

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram .

Guns and public health in the U.S., 25 years after Columbine

May 2, 2024 – Federal gun laws have been weakened, state laws are a patchwork, and the U.S. still has more gun deaths per capita than any other high-income country. But firearms researcher David Hemenway , professor of health policy at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, sees reasons for hope.

Q: It’s been 25 years since the Columbine High School shooting. Would you say gun control in the U.S. has improved, gotten worse, or stayed relatively the same?

A: Gun laws have become much weaker in the United States. In most other countries, when there’s a big mass shooting, it’s a time to examine your gun laws and make them stronger. Australia did that and has been incredibly successful in terms of reducing gun violence. New Zealand did that more recently. The United Kingdom did that. For the U.S., it’s been the complete opposite. At the federal level, our gun laws are now much weaker than they were in 1999. We eliminated the assault weapons ban. We gave the gun industry incredible protections against lawsuits. I don’t know of any other industry that is so well protected against tort liability.

At the state level, some states like Massachusetts have strengthened their gun laws. But the problem is the states with the worst problems, the states that export their guns to Massachusetts and other countries for criminals to use, have weakened their gun laws. There is now permitless carry [laws that allow people to carry firearms in public places without a permit] in more than half the states. There are stand-your-ground laws where you can defend yourself using deadly force not because you have objectively been threatened, but because you feel unsafe. In the last 25 years our gun homicide rate has increased 70%. Our gun suicide rate has increased 33%. We used to be a real outlier compared to all the other high-income countries. We had much higher rates of gun deaths per capita than any other high-income country. Over the last 25 years, our gun fatalities have increased dramatically while other high-income countries on average have reduced their gun death rates. We’re now even more of an outlier.

Q: What are some success stories from taking a public health approach to reducing gun violence? What are some of the challenges to reducing harm from guns compared with, for example, lowering the number of motor vehicle deaths?  

A: One of the things that I’m very happy about is that there’s more understanding about the usefulness of the public health approach. It’s becoming accepted that gun violence is not just a criminal problem and gun suicide is not just a mental health problem, they are serious public health problems.

The broad public health approach is being used more and more. A good example is in suicide. Twenty-five years ago, suicide experts focused on people’s mental health. Why are people attempting suicide? Now the evidence is so overwhelming that every suicide expert understands the importance not only of the why of suicide, but also the how—the means of suicide, the methods—that if there are guns around, it’s much more likely that the person will die in a suicide attempt. So one way to reduce suicide is to make sure that when people are at risk, that they don’t have easy access to highly lethal suicide methods—like guns.

In most of the public health success stories in injury prevention , it’s been about changing the product, not in changing people. It’s hard to change people. The big successes in reducing motor vehicle deaths were not due to getting people to be better drivers—that helped a little, to try to get people to not drink and drive. But the main reasons for the large reductions in deaths per mile driven over the past century are that cars and roads are so much safer now. Unfortunately, by contrast, guns have gotten more dangerous—they’re much more lethal. They can quickly kill many more people. There are many more handguns now than there used to be, as opposed to long guns. And the industry has done little to try to reduce the problem. Indeed, they have tried to prevent scholars from even studying the problem.

Q: What gives you reason for hope?

A: There’s been some good things happening. Data and research can really make a difference. We finally have a complete National Violent Death Reporting System, a system that provides good circumstantial data on every violent death in the United States. We now have information on the circumstances of every suicide, not just the demographics of the victim. That’s really helping us begin to understand what policies and programs can be effective.

For 25 years there was very little funding for gun research. Now there’s more funding by the federal government and more foundations are stepping forward, like the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which has provided our group with five years of funding. There are three state governments that are now funding gun research. There are hospitals, like Massachusetts General Hospital, that are funding gun research. Ten years ago, when there was a meeting of gun researchers throughout the United States, we had maybe 20, 25 people show up. At a recent meeting of gun researchers, there were 750 of us.

Until recently, if a student wrote one of their dissertation papers about guns, I would say, this is really good but you can’t make a living doing this type of research. You can’t be in a soft money school [a school in which researchers are funded through grants] and be a gun researcher because there’s no money. So you have to do something else. Now I don’t have to say that. Now I can say it’s possible to actually make a career conducting research on how to reduce one of our most serious public health problems—gun violence.

— Todd Datz

Learn more:

Video: Preventing gun violence: Promising public health approaches , April 9, 2024

Photos: iStock/artas; Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

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New Histories of Gun Rights and Regulation: Essays on the Place of Guns in American Law and Society

Lanty L. Smith 67 Distinguished Professor of Law

Associate Professor of Law

Melvin G. Shimm Distinguished Professor of Law

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The future of Second Amendment law and scholarship will continue to be determined in large part by history. In this area of constitutional law, perhaps more than in any other, our understanding of the past continues to shape the present—the scope of the constitutional right, and accordingly, the government’s power to regulate in the interest of public safety, hangs in the balance. The essays in this book explore the historical tradition of gun rights and regulation, broadening the growing scholarly conversation about the law and history of firearms. The contributors, which include distinguished historians and legal scholars, add valuable new context and content to the place of guns in American law and society.

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Gun Control in America

How it works

Throughout American history, the debate on gun control has divided the nation. Gun control is a difficult subject to discuss. There is so much controversy over guns that it can become difficult to analyze the subject, through an objective lens. Americans today own more guns than ever recorded. The firearm industry has grown tremendously and is estimated to be a thirty billion dollar industry, which is contributing to the countries economy (Hindman, Nate C.). While mass shootings are on the rise, Americans on both sides of the argument wonder what the solution to all these issues are.

The history of gun violence and gun control, including long-term effects and short-term effects, are important to understand when discussing gun control. Supporting evidence shows that there is a divide between those that support gun control, and those that oppose it.

• 2 Statistics
• 3 Mass shootings
• 5 Effects of gun control
• 6 Conclusion

Before we begin to discuss the topic of gun control, it is important to understand the history of guns in America. Americans have made guns apart of their culture since the birth of the nation. Guns in America date back to the revolutionary war, where guns were used to fight the British (Gray, Sarah). During the revolutionary war, there was neither money nor was there manpower to sustain an army large enough for defense. Citizens were called in militias when the time came (Gray).

The right to bear arms has also been embedded in our constitution. The second amendment of the constitution states A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. This is the most important gun law created in the United States. This law protects peoples’ right to own firearms for self-defense purposes.

However, the history of guns did not stop there. Guns played a vital role in westward expansion. During the time period of America’s expansion, several wars and bargaining deals were in progress. The idea of manifest destiny, aided by guns, led to the growth of the nation. Firearms were considered an essential tool to American citizens during expansion. The Wild West was considered dangerous, yet exciting, encouraging people to keep their firearms on hand in order to move forward (Gray).

As technology advanced, firearms become more and more dangerous. Gun technologies are constantly improving, and are made to shoot with more accurate precision, speed, and are capable of firing several bullets with just a squeeze of the trigger (Gray). Wars became even deadlier due to the advancement of firearms. Ironically, however, this only enticed Americans even more to buy a gun because of how refined and effective it became. Today, gun ownership is at the highest rate ever recorded. The days of fighting with muskets, which can take up to two minutes to reload a single bullet, are over. Now guns can spray bullets with ease, and any citizen can own one (Gray).

To understand gun control and why many Americans are either for or against it, we need to look at the data. These statistics are unbiased facts, gathered from citizens’ standpoints, which are then interpreted by policy makers and government officials. There are 393 million guns circulating in America, ranking the United States #1 for the highest gun ownership in the world (National Center for Health Statistics). In 2017, research shows that firearms killed an estimated 40,000 people. Approximately 60% of those deaths were related to suicides by firearms. White men are more likely to commit suicide than any other demographic, while black men are more like to die from gun-related crime (National Center for Health Statistics). Firearms are the second leading cause of death in teens and children after motor vehicle accidents. Evidence suggests that there is a great disparity when it comes to social and economic inequalities and gun violence (National Institute of Justice). These statistics are often used in political debates in favor of stricter gun laws.

It is also important to look at gun law statistics, to see what is effective. A study done by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found that States with stricter gun laws had a lower rate of gun violence. An example of this is evident in New York and California, where the strictest gun laws are in place and, therefore, gun related crimes are very low (National Rifle Association). Ironically though, a study conducted by the FBI found that gun laws do not affect crime rates. Even though crime rates were not affected, gun related crime rates had significantly decreased. Gun laws help save more lives. For example, banning automatic weapons for civilian purchase helps prevent mass shootings (FBI). In addition, requiring a background check prior to purchasing a firearm can prevent criminals from obtaining a weapon (FBI).

Mass shootings

Many debates on gun control sparked due to mass shootings in America. A mass shooting is defined as 4 or more shooting victims in a given incident. There have been 99 mass shootings in America since 1982 (CNN Library). Some of the most gruesome mass shootings have occurred recently within the decade. For instance, in 2017, a mass shooter killed 58 people and wounded hundreds in the populated city of Las Vegas. In 2018, the parkland shootings occurred, in which 17 students and faculty were killed. The Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2012 claimed the lives of 27 young children and faculty members. All of these mass shootings were carried out with an AR-15 assault rifle (CNN Library).

What signify these mass shootings the most are Americans and their unwillingness to change. The Sandy Hook Elementary shooting had everyone saying never again will we let this happen to our children (CNN Library). Ironically, increasingly more school shootings have occurred since then. Gun advocates and gun control advocates have not been able to move forward and productively stop a mass shooting. Gun advocates blame mental illness as the primary problem. They believe the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to put forth a good guy with a gun (National Rifle Association). On the other hand, people who want stricter gun laws blame assault weapons and how easy it is to obtain a gun.

Gun control laws have been created to prevent mass casualties and gun related crimes. Although these laws are in place to protect the individual, they also limit the individuals right to bear arms (CNN Library). For example, laws that ban automatic weapons, require a background check, and require permits all serve their purpose to prevent weapons from falling into the wrong hands. Another active gun law requires all firearms to have a safety mechanism, which prevents accidental fatalities and injuries (National Rifle Association).

Effects of gun control

Short-term effects of more gun control laws often have the opposite effect on gun ownership. During Obama’s presidency, gun ownership was its highest, despite President Obama’s efforts to enforce stricter gun laws (Hindman). This is mainly due to the fact that people were afraid of government crackdown on firearms and wanted to stock up. This isn’t just a rare occurrence. Every time gun control gets tighter, more people buy firearms. After the Sandy Hook massacre, gun sales skyrocketed in Connecticut. Contrarily, short-term effects of little to no gun control result in more deaths per year and an increase of mass shootings (Hindman).

Alternatively, long-term effects of gun control laws tell a different story. States that have stricter laws have lower gun related deaths as opposed to states with very little gun control (FBI). New York and California tend to have the strictest laws in the country and spend a lot more money on healthcare and education compared to states like Florida. Long term effects of little to no gun control would result in significantly more deaths per year (Welch, Ashley).

The debate over gun control is one of the most controversial topics, dividing most Americans. It is important to understand both the positives and negatives of gun control. There are many positive impacts caused by gun control. For starters, a positive aspect of gun control is that banning high powered automatic assault rifles reduces gun homicide and reduces the amount of deaths in a mass shooting (National Center for Health Statistics). Another reason why gun laws should be in place is because guns are rarely used in self-defense (National Institute of Justice). Only .80% of victims out of 30,000,000 violent crimes committed between 2007 and 2011 were able to effectively defend themselves with a firearm (Welch). Lastly, gun laws that require safety features and mechanisms effectively reduce accidental deaths by nearly double (National Rifle Association).

Looking at the negative impact of gun control is just as important as looking at the positives. Stricter gun control laws do not affect the suicide rate. A study found that more people use firearms to commit suicide, however, in places where guns are extremely hard to get, the suicide rate stayed the same (National Institute of Justice). The reason being is if someone wants to commit suicide they will do whatever it takes, unfortunately. A firearm just makes it faster and easier for the individual. Another negative aspect to gun control is that gun laws will not prevent criminals from obtaining guns (National Institute of Justice). Criminals usually do not care about breaking the law to obtain a firearm. They will do whatever fits their means. A common argument for this is that gun control laws take guns away from law-abiding citizens, where as the criminal is willing to break the law (National Rifle Association).

The importance of understanding gun control cannot be stressed enough. Gun control affects everyone whether they own a firearm or not. The reason it affects everyone is because of security and protection. Gun control provides more security against gun violence; however, ownership of a gun provides personal protection as well. Every law needs to be carefully thought out to protect the public but also not infringe on people’s gun rights. In order for positive change to occur, people need to become mindful and unbiased in their decision-making.

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Persuasive Essay Guide

Persuasive Essay About Gun Control

Read Excellent Examples of Persuasive Essay About Gun Control

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Are you looking for inspiration for your persuasive essay about gun control? You are at the right place!

Gun control is a controversial but common topic for students. But with so many arguments on both sides, students often find it challenging.

However, reading some sample essays can be a good start! 

This blog provides several example essays on the topic of gun control that you can read for inspiration. Moreover, you'll get tips to help you craft your own persuasive essay about the topic.

So let’s get started!

• 1. Persuasive Essay Examples on Gun Control 
• 2. Persuasive Essay Against Gun Control
• 3. Persuasive Essay on Pro-Gun Control
• 4. Argumentative Essay About Gun Control
• 5. Steps to Write a Persuasive Essay
• 6. Persuasive Essay Topics about Gun Control

Persuasive Essay Examples on Gun Control 

Start with these general persuasive essay samples on gun control. They will help you understand what makes a good gun control essay.

Check out these examples:

Persuasive Essay about Gun Control

Persuasive Essay Examples Gun Control

Want persuasive examples on other topics? Check out our persuasive essay examples blog to find samples on a variety of topics.

Persuasive Essay Against Gun Control

Check out these few examples of anti-gun control essays. These will help you understand the arguments of those who are against gun control.

Why Gun Control is Bad

Argumentative Essay Against Gun Control

Check out this short video below on the pros and cons of gun control to find good arguments for both sides.

Persuasive Essay on Pro-Gun Control

Some people believe that stricter gun control laws should be a priority to prevent gun violence. Here are some examples that will introduce you to their arguments in detail.

Why We Need Gun Control Essay

The Pros of Gun Control Essay

Free Persuasive Essay on Gun Control

Argumentative Essay About Gun Control

An argumentative essay about gun control is a paper that looks at both sides of the debate on this important issue. The goal is to make sure that you can support your position with facts, figures, and logical arguments.

Read these argumentative essay examples about gun control to see how it's done!

Steps to Write a Persuasive Essay

Now that you have read some good examples of persuasive essays about gun control, it's time for you to start writing your own paper.

But how exactly do you write a good essay by yourself? Here are some steps you should follow:

Step 1- Research the Topic

Before you start writing your essay, it’s important to do some research on gun control.

Read up on the different arguments and viewpoints on the issue to get a better understanding of what you are discussing. Gather as many facts and evidence as you need.

Make sure to take notes, so you can cite anything you use later.

Step 2- Make an Outline

Having a persuasive essay outline will help you stay organized and on track.

Start by making an outline of the main points you want to discuss in your essay. Then, break it down into subsections with specific facts and arguments.

In short, make sure to create a clear structure for your essay.

Step 3- Take a Stance

After doing your research, decide which side of the debate you agree with. Choose one side of the debate. Decide if you're going to argue for or against gun control. Make sure to choose an opinion that you can defend with logical arguments. Moreover, stay consistent throughout your paper about your stance.

Step 4- Support Your Arguments

When making your arguments, make sure to back them up with evidence. Use data, statistics, and quotes from experts to strengthen your points. In addition, you should use rhetorical strategies such as ethos, pathos, and logos to make your essay more effective.

Step 5- Address the Opposition  

Make sure to address any counterarguments that you come across while researching or writing your essay. This will show your readers that you have done your research and considered both sides of the argument.

Step  6- Proofread and Revise

Before submitting your paper, make sure to proofread for any mistakes or typos. Having a second pair of eyes look over your work can help catch any errors that you may have missed.

Take your time to revise and edit your essay. Make sure that each point is clearly laid out and supported with facts, figures, and logic. This is important to make sure that the essay is compelling and error-free!

Persuasive Essay Topics about Gun Control

Wondering which gun topic you should write about? Here are a few persuasive essay topics related to gun control that you can choose.

• The Impact of Stricter Gun Control Laws on Reducing Gun Violence
• The Role of Background Checks in Preventing Firearms Access for Criminals
• Mental Health and Gun Control: Addressing the Connection
• Gun Control vs. Second Amendment Rights: Finding a Balance
• The Necessity of Banning Assault Weapons for Public Safety
• Why Gun Control Won’t End School Shootings
• The Influence of Lobbying Groups like the NRA on Gun Control Policies
• The International Perspective: Comparing Gun Control Measures in Different Countries
• How Can Gun Control Help Suicide Prevention
• The Economics of Gun Control: Analyzing the Costs and Benefits of Stricter Regulations

Want persuasive topics on other subjects? Check out our list of 200+ engaging and interesting persuasive essay topics to get topic ideas.

To sum it up for you,

Gun control is an important issue that needs to be discussed in our society. The example essays in this blog have helped to show different arguments for and against gun control. In addition, you got some useful steps on how to write a persuasive essay about this topic.

Whether you are for or against gun control, make sure to conduct thorough research and use evidence when writing your paper.

So keep these steps in mind and start writing your own gun control essay today!

If you need further help with your essay on gun control, don't worry! 

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Ten essential observations on guns in America

• Social Research And Public Policy
• Published: March 1995
• Volume 32 , pages 63–68, ( 1995 )

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He has written widely on problems of fire arms and gun control, including two books. His current researches are on the effect of poverty on the urban underclass, alcohol and drug treatment programs for the homeless, and health problems of street children in Latin America.

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Handguns have no place in modern society, says author Dominic Erdozain

Erdozain believes gun policy shifted in the 1980s.

Author Dominic Erdozain was motivated to write his book, "One Nation Under Guns: How Gun Culture Distorts Our History and Threatens Our Democracy," because he felt that there was not enough awareness about gun violence. His book takes readers through a journey of American history, exploring the evolution of gun culture and its significant impact on the nation's values, norms and democracy.

He also stated that a shift in the gun revolution occurred in the 1980s, and that gun policy has shifted drastically in the United States over the last 50 years, from President Richard Nixon's advocacy for a total ban on handguns to President Ronald Reagan's characterization of guns as an American birthright.

ABC News sat down with Erdozain as he analyzed guns and gun violence in America.

ABC NEWS LIVE: Gun violence is an epidemic in our country, one that has divided the nation. In his new book, "One Nation Under Guns: How Gun Culture Distorts Our History and Threatens Our Democracy," author and historian Dominic Erdozain takes readers on a journey through American history, examining the evolution of gun culture and its profound impact on the nation's values, norms and democracy. Dominic joins us now. Dominic, thanks so much for taking the time and being here to talk about the book, the issue. We really do appreciate it. I'm curious what led you to explore the topic?

DOMINIC ERDOZAIN: I had personal experiences, personal threats, which I talked about a little bit in the book. But mainly the shock of arriving here around, about the time of Sandy Hook and just seeing the devastation caused by gun violence and seeing that there, these huge mass shootings that draw the attention for a while.

And then there's this rumbling, continuation of violence in our communities, causing lockdowns in schools. It happened in my doctor's surgery here in Atlanta last year. And I felt that there just wasn't awareness of either the scale of it or how recent or how new much of it was.

ABC NEWS LIVE: And I totally understand that. I covered Sandy Hook, and that basically shook me, like most people, to my core. Gun policy has shifted drastically in the United States over the last 50 years, from President Nixon's advocacy for a total ban on handguns to President Reagan's characterization of guns as an American birthright. What do you believe contributed to the shift in policy that we've seen?

ERDOZAIN: I think, you know, in the book I try to trace long term, roots in terms of slavery and in terms of kind of a militarized nationalism. But you're right to identify that shift from Nixon to Reagan, because what we get there is a kind of culture war factor where the gun issue becomes one of the kind of carriers of purity on the right, a sort of symbol of being on the right side of a culture war which draws on the Cold War.

And it's almost like for Reagan, a continuation of, the war against the Evil Empire. It's like the home front of that. And once you take guns out of the realm of the practical into this symbolic sphere, or at least invest them with more symbolic value than they ever had before, they become almost untouchable. So yeah, that's the start of the sort of revolution, really, the 1980s.

ABC NEWS LIVE: You write about the Supreme Court's 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which affirmed an individual's right to possess firearms for self-defense. I'm curious, how do you think that decision contributes to what you see as a misinterpretation of the Second Amendment?

ERDOZAIN: Well, it's it contributes because it overturned a handgun ban in D.C. It, so it had an immediate legal effect. It also became the basis of the 2022 Bruen decision. So Heller in 2008 makes the traditionally military right to keep and bear arms the right that was historically attached to serving under authority in a militia. The Heller decision applies that to the individual, but to guns kept in the home. Bruen then applies that to individuals outside the home.

So this is this is a drastic change. And I think that it changes things on the legal level obviously. But I think also there's a kind of acceptance that this is the way it was. Whereas you go back as recently as the first decade of this century and 1990s, people are kind of scoffing at the idea that the right to bear arms in the military, in the, in the state militia has any bearing on the individual. But that's quickly lost.

And I think that's what shocks me, alarms me, most of among liberals as well as conservatives, that people had just given up on that idea. And you get people referring to constitutional rights and and some adopting it rather than seeing it as the very flawed decision, or at least the flawed history in my view, that it was based on.

ABC NEWS LIVE: Dominic, we hear this a lot. In the culture, the only thing if I'm going to get this right, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. I'm curious, how do you think that that has impacted gun control measures, that one particular slogan.

ERDOZAIN: Well, it's such an illusion. I sometimes think that the bad guy is just a good guy who's having a bad day. You know that if you look at the data, the criminology, the sociology and what fascinated me most was the psychology of, really groundbreaking books written in the 70s, one called 'Violent Men,' one, 'Power and Innocence,' and makes the point that it's the good guy that you need to worry about is the good guy who has this sense of righteousness and the willingness to use violence.

Road rage incidents we found out last week have increased. Road rage shootings have increased by 400% in ten years. And I follow a couple of accounts that track these. You know, a guy in a Maserati shoots a young mother with two children in a car over some trivial incident. Now, these are not the bad guys, the criminals that you are warned about by the NRA. These are just regular gun owners.

So I suppose my most challenging chapter is called The Myth of the Law-Abiding Citizen. Well, I just show that the intimate connection between the good gun owner and the violence that we're all suffering. And even if these law-abiding citizens are not committing crimes on an individual level, they're feeding into the narrative and the legitimacy of arms. And that's something that is also accepted to some degree on the left as well as the right.

ABC NEWS LIVE: Yeah. And there were a lot of people after the Uvalde mass shooting, they pointed out there were a lot of good guys with guns, standing around for quite some time. Well, that was happening so that goes to your point. I'm just wondering, after doing all this research and writing this book, where do you believe, what place do guns have in a functioning democracy? Do you believe?

ERDOZAIN: Well, I mean, I appreciate your earlier guest talking about being authentic. And, you know, in a sense, leaning into the, the sort of the non-American heritage and I suppose, you know, I always come back to something Jodie Foster said after one of her movies and she said, 'Look, you know, if the problem is rage, the problem is our fallibility.'

You know, I don't think any living, breathing person should have a gun. So may God apply that to handguns. I don't have any problem with people having shotguns or hunting rifles, which is very much the 20th and 19th century traditions of this country. I do have a big problem with handguns and obviously assault weapons, high capacity, high velocity weapons.

I think they have no place in a civilian society. I, I'm very critical of handguns in the home. I know a lot of people here in Atlanta who have them. And if you look at the data, you look at the statistics, It's the families of those people who are in the greatest danger. So I'm a bit of a kind of purist on this matter. But yeah, I think handguns really don't have much place in a modern society.

ABC NEWS LIVE: Well, Dominic, thanks so much for taking the time, and talking to us. "One Nation Under Guns: How Gun Culture Distorts Our History and Threatens Our Democracy," is now available to purchase wherever books are sold. Thanks so much.

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America’s Gun Culture and Why All 400 Million Guns Have Got to Go

Posted: April 28, 2024 | Last updated: May 7, 2024

A Large Number Of Gun Owners Prioritize Self-Defense

The question is: why do Americans care so much about firearms?

A 2021 Gallup Poll suggests that a significant number of gun owners prioritize self-defense, implying a pervasive fear of potential dangers among a large number of Americans.

Actual Instances That Warrant Using A Firearm Are Extremely Rare

Actual instances where gun owners must resort to using their firearms in self-defense are extremely rare.

According to recent reports, less than 3% of gun owners have actually faced such situations in real life.

The Media Narrative Advocating For Firearms Reform

In the discourse surrounding firearms, numerous media outlets constantly keep pushing a narrative advocating for reform.

However, Fox News stands apart by consistently fostering a narrative that perpetuates a perpetual state of danger and fosters distrust in American institutions.

Paranoia Among People Who Watch Too Much Fox News

Fox News's constant dissemination of alarmist propaganda has led its viewers to develop a distorted perception of reality, thereby, causing them to feel increasingly paranoid.

In rare circumstances, individuals influenced by this rhetoric may even resort to violence against imaginary enemies.

The Rhetoric Being Peddled By Fox News Has Made Things Worse

The dangerous rhetoric being peddled by Fox News has not alleviated existing tensions in the country.

Instead, it has exacerbated them, arguably making the situation worse.

The Culture Of Fear And Alarm Has Led To Many Tragic Gun Accidents

Over the years, the pervasive culture of alarm and fear has contributed to tragic gun accidents. Statistics reveal that a notable portion of gun violence stems from accidents, especially those that occur within household settings.

In cases of public gun violence, innocent bystanders often become casualties of otherwise well-intentioned gun owners. The pervasive atmosphere of tension leads these gun owners to perceive others as threats, even when they pose no actual danger.

Missouri Gun Violence Mishap April 13,2023

Highlighting the ongoing issue exacerbated by Fox News, Newsmax, and the OAN Network, are the events that transpired on April 13, 2023, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Sixteen-year-old Ralph Yarl, an African American teenager, inadvertently approached the residence of 84-year-old Andrew Daniel Lester, believing it to be the location for picking up his twin brothers. Upon ringing the doorbell, Lester promptly opened fire on the boy, injuring him with two gunshot wounds. The incident inflicted head and arm injuries on Yarl. The head injury eventually led to traumatic brain damage.

Upstate New York Gun Violence April 15, 2023

Unfortunately, Ralph Yarl's case is not an isolated incident by any means. Merely two days following the boy's shooting, a young man in upstate New York made the tragic error of mistakenly entering the driveway of an unfamiliar home. Despite realizing the mistake and promptly taking action to reverse out with the other four passengers in his car, it proved to be too late.

While the group was exiting the driveway, the homeowner, Kevin D. Monahan, opened fire on them with a 20-gauge shotgun. The driver's 20-year-old girlfriend, Kaylin Gillis, died in the incident. The entire tragic incident occurred because of a genuine mistake.

Another April 2023 Incident In North Carolina

Another incident took place in April 2023. This time the disturbing event unfolded in North Carolina. A group of children were playing basketball in their neighborhood street when their ball accidentally landed in the yard of Robert Louis Singletray.

Witnesses and neighbors recounted that when the children along with parents approached Singleton's yard to retrieve the ball, he became furious. Singleton then retrieved a handgun and began firing indiscriminately at all the people who were present there. As a result, some individuals sustained minor injuries. A 6-year-old girl and her father suffered serious wounds.

Texas Gun Violence April 18, 2023

On April 18, 2023, in Texas, two competitive cheerleaders, Heather Roth and Payton Washington, were shot by Pedro Rodriguez, Jr. when they mistakenly entered his vehicle, believing it was theirs.

It was fortunate that both cheerleaders survived the attack.

The Problem Persists And Is A Cause For Great Concern

The problem of people intentionally or unintentionally causing harm those who pose no threat persists.

Senseless acts of gun violence stemming from harmless mistakes poses a significant threat not only to society at large but also to people's mental health.

A Small Fraction Of Americans Own Half The Guns In The Country

It is even more concerning that only 3% of all Americans possess half of guns in the country.

Given the widespread occurrence of gun violence, it may seem easier to assume that there were too many gun owners. However, the reality is quite different.

Highly Polarized Perspectives On Gun Ownership

Gun laws in the U.S. are undeniably a highly contentious topic, fraught with endless controversy and debate.

People tend to take highly polarized positions, either being staunchly in favor of or vehemently opposed to firearms. Hence, there is generally little room for compromise in both social and political spheres.

The Topic Of Firearms Is Rooted In The Second Amendment

The root of the entire firearms debate lies in the Second Amendment, which explicitly protects the right to bear arms. Pro-gun activists often cite the Second Amendment as justification for why there should be fewer restrictions on firearms.

However, instead of resolving the issue, the Second Amendment has only deepened the divide between legal and ideological perspectives.

Relaxed Gun Laws In The U.S. Contribute To The Country Leading The Entire Western World In Mass Shootings

While some conservative voices attribute the increase in crime rate to the need for fewer gun restrictions, advocates on the opposing end of the spectrum argue otherwise.

Supporters of stricter firearm laws often emphasize the necessity for enforcing public safety measures. The aim is to reduce not only random gun violence but also to deter criminal activities like mass shootings. The U.S. leads the Western world when it comes to mass shootings, a statistic largely attributed to the country's lenient gun laws.

Urgency For Comprehensive Gun Control Measures

The urgency for comprehensive gun control measures has intensified in the wake of devastating mass shootings.

Examples include the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, where 28 innocent lives were lost. It was predominantly children who died in the incident. In the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, 58 lives people lost their lives.

There Seems To Be No End In Sight

Unfortunately, these tragic incidents show no signs of coming to an end anywhere in the foreseeable future.

A number of similar events have unfolded since the events outlined above occured. Such tragedies take a huge emotional toll and cause societal repercussions surrounding the debate on firearm accessibility and safety.

Need For Additional Legislative Measures

The tragic mass shootings have amplified the need for additional legislative measures. There's a growing call not only to tackle the proliferation of firearms, but also to regulate access to certain types of firearms. There is also a need to strengthen background checks for prospective firearm owners.

Considering the prevalence of mass shootings in the U.S., one might expect the implementation of stricter regulations to be common sense. Unfortunately, the reality is far more complex than what some people suggest.

The Unique Challenge The U.S. Faces When It Comes To Gun Control Measures

Unlike other nations that have successfully implemented strict gun restrictions, the U.S. faces a distinct challenge in the realm of gun control. Gun legislation in the U.S. varies significantly from one state to another, thereby, adding to the complexity of the issue. With different jurisdictions handling guns in their own way, this patchwork of gun laws further complicates the task of effectively addressing and reducing gun violence nationwide.

The division of powers between federal and state governments has resulted in diverging opinions on guns, leading to significant deadlock on the issue. In the arena of the federal government, many representatives have declared that any discussion of gun control is essentially a nonstarter.

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• See the Research

At least one firearm is stolen from a car every nine minutes in the US. But these thefts are preventable.

Gun Thefts from Cars: The Largest Source of Stolen Guns

Key findings.

In cities that report crime data to the FBI:

On average, at least one gun is stolen from a car every nine minutes in the United States.

• The rate of gun thefts from cars is triple what it was a decade ago. This includes both consistent increases nearly every year over the decade and a marked spike during the pandemic. 
• A decade ago, roughly a quarter of gun thefts were from cars; in 2022, over half were.
• Cars parked at residences (in driveways, outside homes, etc.) are the most common source of stolen guns, demonstrating the importance of securely storing guns at all times and locations.
• Cities in states with the weakest gun safety laws see nearly 18 times the rate of gun thefts from cars as those in states with the strongest gun laws.
• Memphis, Tennessee—the city with the highest rate of guns stolen from cars—had over 3,000 gun thefts from vehicles in 2022. A range of cities in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, reported zero gun thefts from cars. 

On July 22, 2021, a gun was stolen from an unlocked car in Riverside, Florida. Twelve days later, the gun was used in the murder of a 27-year-old US Coast Guard member as she attempted to intervene in a neighborhood car burglary. 1 Corley Peel, “Gun Stolen from Car in Riverside Entered into Evidence in Coast Guard Member’s Murder,” WJXT , August 18, 2021, https://bit.ly/3IhsrCw .

Explore Trends in Gun Thefts From Cars By City

Introduction

The majority of gun homicides and assaults involve stolen or illegal guns. 2 Anthony Fabio et al., “Gaps Continue in Firearm Surveillance: Evidence from a Large U.S. City Bureau of Police,” Social Medicine 10, no. 1 (2016): 13–21, https://socialmedicine.info/index.php/socialmedicine/article/view/852 ; Daniel C. Semenza et al., “Firearm Availability, Homicide, and the Context of Structural Disadvantage,” Homicide Studies (September 2021): 1–21, https://doi.org/10.1177/10887679211043806 . But where do these guns come from, and how are they getting into dangerous hands? Research from Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund finds that in cities that report data to the FBI, gun thefts from cars are the largest source of stolen guns. 

In order to understand the scope of the problem, Everytown analyzed crime data from 337 small- to large-size cities across 44 states—covering roughly 63 million people—obtained from the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). 3 Everytown Research analysis of FBI National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data, 2003–2022, and American Community Survey (ACS) population data, 2022 , accessed January 2024. Analysis used data from all cities with both a population of 65,000+ people and complete 2022 data (i.e., 12 months of data reported). The 337 cities were located in 44 states: AL (3), AR (6), AZ (9), CA (6), CO (17), CT (8), DE (1), GA (6), IA (9), ID (3), IL (11), IN (8), KS (3), KY (2), LA (3), MA (16), ME (1), MI (16), MN (13), MO (9), MS (1), MT (2), NC (14), ND (2), NE (1), NH (2), NJ (3), NM (1), NV (5), NY (5), OH (9), OK (6), OR (8), PA (2), RI (4), SC (5), SD (2), TN (9), TX (56), UT (9), VA (11), WA (19), WI (10), WY (1). Of those cities, 159 cities in 27 states submitted 10 years (2013–2022) of complete data and were included in longitudinal analyses. An additional analysis was done on cities that submitted 20 years (2003–2022) worth of complete data, of which there were 84 cities in 17 states. Analyses revealed that in 2022, nearly 112,000 guns were reported stolen in these cities. 4 Everytown Research analysis of FBI NIBRS data of 337 cities, 2022, and ACS population data , 2022, accessed January 2024. Overall gun thefts include those from cars, pickpocketing, purse-snatching, shoplifting, buildings, and all other types of larceny, robbery, and burglary. Gun theft incident counts were multiplied by the average number of guns stolen per gun theft incident (1.5, per Hemenway et al. 2017 & Cook 2018). David Hemenway, Deborah Azrael, and Matthew Miller, “Whose Guns Are Stolen? The Epidemiology of Gun Theft Victims,” Injury Epidemiology 4, no. 1 (December 2017): 1–5, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40621-017-0109-8 ; Philip J. Cook, “Gun Theft and Crime,” Journal of Urban Health 95 (2018): 305–12, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-018-0253-7 . This is likely a conservative estimate since only a third of US states legally require reporting of lost and stolen guns to law enforcement, and thus thousands of missing guns go unreported annually. 5 Fabio et al., “Gaps Continue in Firearm Surveillance;” Cook, “Gun Theft and Crime.” While guns can be stolen in a variety of ways and places (e.g., from people’s houses or from gun shops, or individuals directly), in 2022, just over half (51 percent) were stolen from cars. 6 Everytown Research analysis of FBI NIBRS data of 159 cities, 2013–2022, and ACS population data , 2013–2022, accessed January 2024. This amounted to nearly 62,000 guns stolen from cars in 2022 across these 337 cities. 7 Everytown Research analysis of FBI NIBRS data of 337 cities, 2022, and ACS population data , 2022, accessed January 2024. An incident of gun theft from a vehicle is defined as an incident where there was a theft from a vehicle and a firearm was listed among the property stolen. Gun theft incident counts were multiplied by the average number of guns stolen per gun theft incident (1.5, per Hemenway et al., 2017 & Cook, 2018). Hemenway et al., “Whose Guns Are Stolen? The Epidemiology of Gun Theft Victims;” Cook, “Gun Theft and Crime.”  

Source: Everytown Research analysis of FBI NIBRS data of 337 cities, 2022, and ACS population data , 2022, accessed January 2024.

Why do guns stolen from cars merit attention? The principal reason is that these stolen guns are often used in other crimes. Local leaders and law enforcement periodically raise public awareness about the importance of always storing guns securely in cars and locking car doors. And companies sell gun safes for every model of car and truck on the road. But with an average of at least one gun stolen from a car every nine minutes, 8 Everytown Research analysis of FBI NIBRS data of 337 cities, 2022, accessed January 2024. there is more we must be doing. This report examines trends in gun thefts from cars, explores the role that gun safety laws can play in reducing these thefts, and highlights the policies and practices that can prevent guns from passing from legal hands into the illegal firearms market. 

Why Are Gun Thefts From Cars On The Rise?

The rate of gun thefts from cars across FBI-reporting cities tripled over the past decade, rising from an estimated 21.0 thefts per 100,000 people in 2013 to 63.1 per 100,000 in 2022. 9 Everytown Research analysis of FBI NIBRS data of 159 cities, 2013–2022, and ACS population data , 2013–2022, accessed January 2024. Over this time, there were fairly consistent annual increases, and a spike of 51 percent during the pandemic. There has also been a major change in where guns have been stolen from over the past decade. 10 Everytown Research analysis of FBI NIBRS data of 159 cities, 2013–2022, and ACS population data , 2013–2022, accessed January 2024. The rate of gun theft from cars was 39.9 in 2019, prior to the pandemic, and 60.2 in 2021, the last full year of the pandemic. A decade ago, the majority of gun thefts were from burglaries of a home or other structure (38 percent), and roughly a quarter (26 percent) were from cars. 11 Everytown Research analysis of FBI NIBRS data of 159 cities, 2013–2022, and ACS population data , 2013–2022, accessed January 2024. Since then, the nation has seen a stark increase to over half coming from cars. In fact, the past decade’s overall increase in gun thefts is driven primarily by the rise in gun thefts from cars.

A DECADE AGO, A QUARTER OF GUN THEFTS WERE FROM CARS. IN 2022, OVER HALF WERE.

More research is needed to understand all of the factors that are driving this increase. This data does, however, provide some insights. This trend doesn’t seem to be associated with an increase in thefts from vehicles overall. In fact, the rate of thefts from vehicles overall has decreased 11 percent over the past decade in cities that report data to the FBI while the rate of thefts of guns from vehicles soared over 200 percent. 12 Everytown Research analysis of  FBI NIBRS  data of 159 cities, 2013–2022, accessed January 2024. Other gun theft locations include roads (20 percent), parking lots (32 percent), and other/unknown (12 percent). Over the entire 10-year period the percentage of incidents where the gun was stolen from a car at a residence ranged from 29 percent to 40 percent, and in total 36 percent of incidents (35,602 / 98,821) occurred at a residence. Second, the rise in gun thefts from cars is not likely associated with cars now being parked in different or more dangerous types of locations either. Over the past 10 years, 36 percent of car gun thefts in these 159 cities have occurred at people’s residences, whether in the driveway or near the home of the gun owner or others. 13 Everytown Research analysis of FBI NIBRS data of 159 cities, 2013–2022, accessed January 2024. Other gun theft locations include roads (20 percent), parking lots (32 percent), and other/unknown (12 percent). Over the entire 10-year period the percentage of incidents where the gun was stolen from a car at a residence ranged from 29 percent to 40 percent. Over the entire 10-year period 36 percent of incidents (35,602 / 98,821) occurred at a residence.  

RESIDENCES ARE THE LEADING LOCATION OF GUN THEFTS FROM CARS

In cities located in states with the weakest gun safety laws , the rate of gun thefts from cars is nearly 18 times higher than those in states with the strongest laws. 14 There is a significant negative correlation (r = –0.354, p < 0.000) between the strength of gun laws as measured by Everytown’s 2024 Gun Law Rankings , and the rate of incidents of gun theft from cars in the 337 cities that reported data to the FBI in 2022. In 2022, the rate for cities in states with the weakest gun laws—called “National Failures”—is 81.3 thefts per 100,000 people. Cities in states with the strongest laws—the “National Leaders”—have a rate of 4.6, which is 17.7 times higher than the National Failures. In many of these cities, high rates of gun ownership and laws that make it easier to carry guns in public create conditions under which gun thefts from cars may be more likely. 15 Terry Schell et al., “State-Level Estimates of Household Firearm Ownership,” RAND Corporation, April 22, 2020, https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/gun-ownership.html . Four out of the five cities with the highest rates of gun thefts from cars are in states with particularly weak gun laws. In Memphis, Tennessee, and Atlanta, Georgia, there were an estimated 3,315 and 2,499 guns stolen from cars in 2022, respectively. 16 Everytown Research analysis of FBI NIBRS data of 337 cities, 2022, accessed January 2024. Gun theft incident counts were multiplied by the average number of guns stolen per gun theft incident (1.5, per Hemenway et al., “Whose Guns Are Stolen? The Epidemiology of Gun Theft Victims;” Cook, “Gun Theft and Crime.” Both states have weak gun safety laws. This is in marked contrast to the 12 cities with zero guns reported stolen from cars in 2022, like Yonkers in New York; Cambridge, Somerville, Quincy, and Waltham in Massachusetts; and Elizabeth in New Jersey—all in states that lead the nation in the strength of their gun safety laws. 17 The complete list of cities with zero gun thefts from cars in 2022 is as follows: Brockton, MA, Cambridge, MA, Haverhill, MA, Lawrence, MA, Quincy, MA, Somerville, MA, Waltham, MA, Newton, MA, Elizabeth, NJ, Yonkers, NY, Pawtucket, RI, and Janesville, WI.  

A clear example of the importance of state policies can be seen in Tennessee. Memphis, Tennessee, has the highest rate of gun theft from cars of any American city reported to the FBI. 18 Everytown Research analysis of FBI NIBRS data of 337 cities, 2022; Jessica Jaglois, “2,100 Guns Stolen from Cars in Memphis in 2023, a Slight Decrease Year to Year,” Action News 5 , January 25, 2024, https://www.actionnews5.com/2024/01/26/2100-guns-stolen-cars-memphis-2023-slight-decrease-year-to-year/ . Relative to cities outside the state, cities in Tennessee experienced a sharper increase in their rate of gun thefts from cars over the past decade, leading them to have a higher rate today. 19 Everytown Research analysis of FBI NIBRS data, 2003–2022; American Community Survey (ACS) population data, 2010–2022 and Census Intercensal Population Estimates , 2000–2009, accessed January 2024. Analysis used data from all cities with both a population of 65,000+ people and 12 months of data reported each year across the 2003–2022 data. Analysis includes nine cities in Tennessee (Chattanooga, Clarksville, Franklin, Jackson, Johnson City, Knoxville, Memphis, Murfreesboro, and Nashville) compared to 75 cities in 17 other states. States with cities included are: AR (1), CO (7), CT (1), DE (1), IA (7), ID (3), KS (1), MA (4), MI (10), ND (1), OH (4), OR (1), SC (5), TX (11), UT (7), VA (11). Incident and population data for the reporting cities in Tennessee were combined to create an overall rate. The same process was used for cities outside of Tennessee to create the non-Tennessee cities group.

Explore Rates of Gun Thefts From Cars in 2022

The trends of gun theft from cars in cities inside and outside of Tennessee show a very similar progression prior to 2013, but the rates of gun thefts from cars in Tennessee dramatically increased after 2013. 20 Anita Wadhwani, “Gun Thefts from Cars up 85 Percent in Two Years in Tennessee, Some Police Blame Laws,” The Tennessean , February 17, 2019, https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2019/02/17/gun-laws-tennessee-thefts-cars-up/2871666002/ . Why? In 2013, Tennessee lawmakers passed a law that allowed handgun carry permit holders to store their firearms in parked vehicles. 21 Tennessee Senate Bill 142 (2013). By 2014, they allowed all legal gun owners to do the same. 22 Tennessee Senate Bill 1774 (2013). Incidents of gun theft from vehicles in Tennessee cities since these laws were passed are nearly triple what they were during the prior decade. 23 Everytown Research analysis of FBI NIBRS data, 2003–2022. From 2003 to 2012, there were 6,867 incidents of gun theft from vehicles, compared to 20,431 from 2015 to 2022, 2.98 times as high as from 2003–2012. Since 2013, more than 29,000 firearms have been stolen from vehicles statewide, according to a News Channel 5 Nashville analysis. 24 Phil Williams, “Revealed: Nearly 30,000 Firearms Stolen from Vehicles since Tennessee GOP Relax Gun Laws,” News Channel 5 Nashville, January 30, 2024,  https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/revealed/revealed-nearly-30-000-firearms-stolen-from-vehicles-since-tennessee-gop-relaxed-gun-laws . During this same period, gun homicides increased 85 percent in Tennessee , well surpassing the already unacceptable US trend on gun homicide. 25 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, WONDER Online Database, Underlying Cause of Death. Percent change in age-adjusted rate: 2013 vs. 2022. Homicide includes shootings by police. 

GUN THEFTS FROM CARS ROSE STARKLY IN TENNESSEE’S CITIES

The rate of gun thefts from cars has soared over the past decade and there’s strong evidence that the majority of gun homicides–especially those in cities–involve illegal guns, with theft being one source. 26 Guns stolen from gun dealers and private people are the third most common form of trafficked gun after unlicensed dealers and straw purchasers.  ATF National Firearm Commerce and Trafficking Assessment Volume III Part V, 2024.  https://www.atf.gov/firearms/docs/report/nfcta-volume-iii-part-v/download So every gun stolen from a car increases the chances it could be used in a violent crime. 

The hopeful news is that we can all play a role in preventing the diversion of guns from the legal market and from ending up behind yellow tape at crime scenes. What are the solutions?  

• Most immediately, gun owners must always lock their vehicles and secure their guns in those vehicles so that they are not visible. There is a gun safe for sale for every make and model of vehicle and devices that make it easier to securely store guns .
• Local elected officials, community leaders, law enforcement, and others must support public awareness campaigns on how to prevent thefts from cars and the acts of violence that can follow. Proactive efforts are underway in a number of cities. In San Antonio, Texas, a nonprofit alliance is raising funds to purchase and distribute car gun safes. 27 Andrew Moore, “How Drivers Can Secure Their Firearms in Their Vehicles, Avoid Having Guns Stolen,” KENS 5, December 26, 2023, https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/criminals-stole-guns-from-vehicles-how-you-can-avoid-having-your-gun-stolen/273-db20fef2-3cc3-4ffd-b879-509b33b6b711 . Police in Hoover, Alabama, have reported success with their “Lock It or Lose It” public awareness campaign. 28 Aajene Robinson, “Hoover PD Launches ‘Lock It or Lose It’ Campaign to Ensure a Safer Community,” WBRC , October 4, 2023,  https://www.wbrc.com/2023/10/04/hoover-pd-launches-lock-it-or-lose-it-campaign-ensure-safer-community/ . In some areas, police departments are working with the ATF or the FBI to produce public service announcements, other agencies are making flyers and handouts to raise awareness and are encouraging gun owners to make their cars less visible targets by removing decals or bumper stickers indicating a firearm may be in the vehicle. And the Be SMART program promotes secure storage nationwide to help parents, caretakers, and community leaders have the knowledge and conversations to keep our communities safe. 
• Legislators at all levels must pass laws that are proven to help prevent these thefts. The highest-priority policies are, first, laws that require guns to be securely stored and not visible when left unattended in cars. States including California, Connecticut, and Oregon have done so and can serve as examples. 29 Cal. Penal Code § 25140; Conn. Gen. Stat. § 29-38g; O.R.S. § 166.395(1)(b)(B). Second, immediate, mandatory reporting of lost and stolen guns enables law enforcement to investigate the theft and any possible gun trafficking, and allows us to better understand where and when these incidents are happening to help focus prevention efforts. Research has shown that these reporting laws can reduce illegal gun movements by 46 percent compared to states without this law. 30 Leo H. Kahane, “Understanding the Interstate Export of Crime Guns: A Gravity Model Approach,” Contemporary Economic Policy 31, no. 3 (2013): 618–34, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7287.2012.00324.x .

We know how to prevent these incidents and to save families and communities from the heartbreak and long-lasting trauma of the violence that can result. Now is the time for action. 

Everytown Research & Policy is a program of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, an independent, non-partisan organization dedicated to understanding and reducing gun violence. Everytown Research & Policy works to do so by conducting methodologically rigorous research, supporting evidence-based policies, and communicating this knowledge to the American public.

Jason Szkola is the Data Scientist at Everytown for Gun Safety. Dr. Szkola’s primary expertise is in community violence intervention (CVI) programs and quantitative methodology. In addition to his doctorate in Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Dr. Szkola also holds his Master’s in Social Work degree from New York University and has an intimate knowledge of community based violence intervention programming across a variety of program models through his work as a practitioner-researcher. Dr. Szkola has worked with community violence intervention programs and their associated policy makers for the last decade.

Megan J. O’Toole

Meg is Deputy Director of Research at Everytown for Gun Safety, where her work focuses on city gun violence, violence intervention programs, and police violence. Prior to joining Everytown, she worked at the Vera Institute of Justice, John Jay’s Research and Evaluation Center, Columbia School of Social Work, and the Rhode Island Department of Corrections. Meg holds a PhD in psychology and law from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where she also serves as an adjunct professor.

Sarah Burd-Sharps

Sarah combines her background of work on poverty, gender equity, and economic empowerment at the UN and the Social Science Research Council to lead Everytown’s research department. Sarah is co-author of two volumes of The Measure of America (Columbia University Press, 2008 and NYU Press, 2010) and pioneering work on youth disconnection. At Everytown, she has co-authored four peer-reviewed journal articles and countless reports and appears regularly in the media to help shape the conversation about our gun violence epidemic.

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Did you know?

Every day, more than 120 people in the United States are killed with guns, twice as many are shot and wounded and countless others are impacted by acts of gun violence.

Everytown Research analysis of CDC, WONDER, Underlying Cause of Death , 2018–2022; Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) nonfatal firearm injury data, 2020; and SurveyUSA Market Research Study #26602 , 2022.

Last updated: 5.7.2024

Americans have so many guns lying around that the number stolen from cars has tripled in the last decade

The rate of guns stolen from cars in the U.S. has tripled over the last decade, making them the largest source of stolen guns in the country, an analysis of FBI data by the gun safety group Everytown found.

The rate of stolen guns from cars climbed nearly every year and spiked during the coronavirus pandemic along with a major surge in weapons purchases in the U.S., according to  the report , which analyzes FBI data from 337 cities in 44 states and was provided to The Associated Press.

The stolen weapons have, in some cases, turned up at crime scenes. In July 2021, a gun taken from an unlocked car in Riverside, Florida, was used to kill a 27-year-old Coast Guard member as she tried to stop a car burglary in her neighborhood.

The alarming trend underscores the need for Americans to safely secure their firearms to prevent them from getting into the hands of dangerous people, said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Director Steve Dettelbach, whose agency has separately found links between stolen guns and violent crimes.

“People don’t go to a mall and steal a firearm from a locked car to go hunting. Those guns are going straight to the street,” said Dettelbach, whose agency was not involved in the report. “They’re going to violent people who can’t pass a background check. They’re going to gangs. They’re going to drug dealers, and they’re going to hurt and kill the people who live in the next town, the next county or the next state.”

Nearly 112,000 guns were reported stolen in 2022, and just over half of those were from cars — most often when they were parked in driveways or outside people’s homes, the Everytown report found. That’s up from about one-quarter of all thefts in 2013, when homes were the leading spot for firearm thefts, the report says.

Stolen guns have also been linked to tragic accidents, such as when a 14-year-old boy in St. Petersburg, Florida, killed his 11-year-old brother after finding in an alley a gun that had been stolen from an unlocked car a few days before.

At least one firearm was stolen from a car every nine minutes on average in 2022, the most recent year for which data was available. That’s almost certainly an undercount, though, since there’s no federal law requiring people to report stolen guns and only one-third of states require a report.

“Every gun stolen from a car increases the chances it’ll be used in a violent crime,” said Sarah Burd- Sharp , senior director of research at Everytown, which advocates for gun control policies. It’s unclear what’s driving the trend. The report found higher theft rates in states with looser gun laws, which also tend to have higher rates of gun ownership.

The report analyzed crime data from the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System, which includes details about what was stolen and where it came from. Guns stolen from cars bucked car theft trends overall — the rate of other things stolen from cars has dropped 11% over the last 10 years, even as the rate of gun thefts from cars grew 200%, Everytown found in its analysis of FBI data.

In Savannah, Georgia, city leaders last month  passed an ordinance  requiring people to secure firearms left inside cars after seeing more than 200 guns stolen from unlocked cars in a year. The measure is facing  pushback from the state’s attorney general .

The ATF has separately said that theft is a significant source of guns that end up in the hands of criminals. More than 1 million guns were reported stolen between 2017 and 2021, the agency found in a sweeping report on crime guns released last year. And the vast majority of gun thefts are from individuals.

The agency is prohibited by law from publicly releasing detailed information about where stolen guns end up. The information can, however, be shared with police investigating a crime.

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Gun violence misinformation has found a new home on Chinese language social media, report says

Growing misinformation about gun violence is permeating Chinese-language social media, a new report shows. 

The report , released Tuesday by the civil rights nonprofit group Chinese for Affirmative Action, pointed to five dominant narratives emerging — largely on WeChat — including the idea that banning guns is a step toward authoritarianism, while gun ownership represents “democracy.” 

Another popular belief the report surfaced is that U.S. law enforcement isn’t obligated to protect people, so gun ownership is a necessary element of self-defense, particularly in an era of anti-Asian hate. 

“We are worried the same tragedies will happen again and again,” said Jinxia Niu, the program manager of CAA’s Chinese digital engagement initiative, speaking about gun violence. 

Researchers identified over 100 widely circulated posts, amassing roughly 2 million views, featuring pro-gun misinformation across several social media platforms. Just under half of the misinformation and disinformation circulated on WeChat, a platform with a feed that includes public posts. An estimated three-quarters of the Chinese American community uses the app, the report said.

The report looked into the spread of gun violence disinformation over 23 months from January 2022 to December 2023. 

Other key narratives found mirror American right-wing conspiracies, such as the idea that gunmen in mass shootings are often Black, people of color or transgendered, and are affiliated with Democrats; that Democrats’ gun control policies have led to increased crime and shootings; and that “good guys with guns” have the ability to prevent crime. 

In some cases, previous experiences with censorship and restrictions of free speech make Chinese Americans vulnerable to such narratives. The belief that gun ownership is an “indicator for freedom,” for example, often stems from criticisms of China’s government, Niu said. Additionally, pro-gun messaging in Western media often warns of the infringement of the Second Amendment and potential dangers of government control, the report says. 

The report also identified a disinformation narrative that places blame on a shooter’s background when the person is a Democrat, Black, transgender or from a marginalized group. 

“In this way, pro-gun advocates pit Chinese-speaking communities against other minority groups,” the report said. 

The report pointed out that while only around 10% of Asian Americans own guns — the lowest across all major races — interest in firearms saw a rise after the start of the pandemic. A 2022 study showed that more than half of Asian Americans who purchased a gun since the start of the pandemic were first-time gun owners. Those who were the target of racism were more likely to buy guns. 

However, research shows that gun ownership correlates with higher rates of violence. A 2013 study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that states with higher rates of gun ownership had “disproportionately large” numbers of deaths from firearm-related homicides. A separate 2022 study from Stanford Medicine researchers found that Californians who lived with handgun owners were more than twice as likely to die by homicide.

Researchers of the CAA report urged the U.S. government to establish offices aimed at addressing gun violence and implementing policies in a linguistically and culturally competent way. They also recommended gun-violence prevention advocates to invest in combating disinformation and misinformation in Asian American communities, and that community organizations should prioritize gun violence prevention in their community safety and justice efforts.

“They can’t take for granted that ‘Asians don’t like guns,’” Niu said. “The gun industry is targeting Asians to buy more guns. Things are changing.”

Kimmy Yam is a reporter for NBC Asian America.

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A man tried to shoot a pastor during a church service but his gun wouldn’t fire, state police say

A man who told investigators he tried to shoot a pastor during a service at a Pennsylvania church because “God told him to do it” was thwarted when the gun he pointed didn’t fire and he was tackled by a congregant.

In this image taken from video, a Bernard J. Polite, 26, tries to shoot Pastor Glenn Germany, center, at the Jesus Dwelling Place church in North Braddock, Pa., May 5, 2024. The attempted shooting failed when Polite’s gun didn’t fire and was tackled by a congregant. (Glenn Germany via AP)

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In this image taken from video, Bernard J. Polite, 26, right, is tackled by a congregant after trying to shoot Pastor Glenn Germany at the Jesus Dwelling Place church, in North Braddock, Pa., May 5, 2024. The attempted shooting during the church service failed when Polite’s gun didn’t fire and then was restrained. (Glenn Germany via AP)

A man who tried to shoot a pastor during a service at a Pennsylvania church because “God told him to do it” was thwarted when his gun didn’t fire and he was tackled by a congregant, authorities said.

The chaos at the Jesus’ Dwelling Place Church in North Braddock took place Sunday while the service was being livestreamed, state police said in a news release.

Bernard J. Polite, 26, of Braddock entered the church just after 1 p.m. and walked toward the front while the Rev. Glenn Germany was giving a sermon, police said. The pastor told WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh that Polite smiled at him and they made eye contact just before Polite pointed the gun at him. Germany then ducked out of the way as a male congregant tackled Polite.

Germany and the congregant then worked together to wrest the gun away from Polite, who was soon subdued and held until state troopers arrived.

Polite said “God told me to do it” and that he planned to shoot Germany and “wait to be arrested” so he could go to jail and clear his mind, according to court documents. He faces numerous charges, including aggravated assault and attempted homicide, and was being held Monday without bail at the Allegheny County Jail. State police said they they didn’t know if Polite has an attorney, and county court records did not list one.

The body of a shooting victim was found in a home near the church where Polite had been shortly before going to the church, county police said. The county Medical Examiner’s office identified the body Monday as Derek Polite, 56, of North Braddock, but did not say if he was related to Bernard Polite.

Polite was not known at the church, officials said. He wandered over to the church after hearing music coming from there, according to court documents.

“I am feeling grateful that I woke up this morning and that I am here. It could have gone an opposite direction,” Germany told The Associated Press on Monday. “But God has intervened and I am grateful for him.”

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What Could American-Style Gun Culture Do to Israel?

An armed, internally divided nation is not one that makes peace easily.

As new policies promote civilian firearm ownership in Israel, physician and sociologist Jonathan M. Metzl, who studies gun violence, wonders how it will affect the country. Courtesy of AP Photo/Dan Balilty .

by Jonathan M. Metzl | May 6, 2024

A mong the core Israeli national narratives fractured by the October 7 Hamas terror attacks and the months of war and violence that have followed was the notion that Israel’s ethos on firearms differed from that of the United States.

Both countries were gun-centric democracies, that narrative allowed, but the U.S. was a land of too many guns and too few laws—while Israelis “ trust their state, and don’t fear each other. ”  A common refrain emphasized that “in Israel it is not a right to bear arms, but a privilege.”

I knew this mentality well: Before October 7, I had spent over a decade collaborating with Israeli public health scholars and safety activists to better understand how a country with many guns saw only a fraction of the types of civilian gun deaths we do in the U.S. Partner shootings , homicides, gun suicides, accidental shootings, and mass shootings remained remarkably low , thanks to a web of public-health based laws and policies that seemed enviable, if politically impossible, in America.

Many Israelis received firearm training as part of mandatory military service, but the government banned assault rifles for private citizens and issued handgun permits only after an extensive vetting process.

Effective gun policy reinforced social cohesion. While Americans carry guns based on individualized notions of self-protection, Israelis considered gun ownership a shared responsibility .

Such cohesion was often articulated as being not-the-U.S . When the National Rifle Association sent high-level donors on tours of Israel to promote U.S. gun laws, Israelis widely dismissed the efforts as “American mishegas.”

Like many national narratives, Israel’s gun scripts were always based partially in myth . Armed settlers in the West Bank recklessly intimidated and harassed Palestinians. A robust criminal contraband arms market flourished in smaller cities; the victims of shootings from these guns were overwhelmingly Arab citizens of Israel.

Still, American researchers like me could view Israel’s gun safety efforts as models of successful public policy. I worked with groups like the Israeli chapter of Physicians for Human Rights and Gun Free Kitchen Tables that championed coalition-based community safety and advocated for disarmament in “civil space in Israel and the territories under its control.”

That calculus shifted on October 7. A catastrophic failure of state protection tapped into epigenetic – level fears about being Jewish, vulnerable, and exposed —and changed the nation’s relationship to firearms in ways that have profound and lasting implications.

Prior to the Hamas attacks, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir—a nationalistic arsonist once expelled from army service because of radicalism—repeatedly tried to weaken gun permit regulations and ease carry rights, arguing that Israel should “take the good things from the U.S.” when it came to guns, but his extremist arguments failed to gain traction.

After October 7, however, Ben-Gvir and his allies managed to fast track legislation that generated an unprecedented spike in armed Jewish civilians. “Carry a Gun, It’s a Life-saver: Ben-Gvir and His Wife Boast of Dramatic Expansion in Israelis Carrying Weapons” read a headline in Haaretz on October 22. Within weeks , the Netanyahu government distributed thousands of firearms and issued more than 30,000 new carry licenses. Contentious Knesset oversight committee meetings detail ed how dozens of unqualified people—including Ben Gvir’s personal staff appointees—had been granted temporary authority to approve gun license applications.

“They’re handing out guns like candy,” a senior security official told Haaretz . “There’s almost no oversight.”

Rightist politicians invoked the U.S. to support the gun splurge. Simcha Rothman , a member of the far-right Religious Zionist Party, cited Ronald Reagan and the NRA—“Guns don’t kill. People kill”—to promote expanded gun licensing.

U.S.-based gun rights outlets reflexively lauded these developments, which would lead to the distribution of more than 100,000 guns in the West Bank alone.

I t’s understandable why gun sales to civilians spike in times of peril. Guns provide real protection in some instances and the promise of protection in others.

As a longtime scholar of American gun politics, however, I’ve learned that gun safety and security are never as straightforward as the NRA ’s “good guys” versus “bad guys” binary makes it seem. Armed civilians rarely prevent crimes such as mass shootings. Potential security benefits to arming civilians are often counterbalanced by rising everyday gun-related injuries and death.

Gun ownership can make people wary of governments and regulations. I once interviewed a man from Missouri who told me that he was “anti-gun” for the first 40 years of his life before he grew concerned about the “gang crime” he heard about on FOX News. He started carrying one concealed handgun for “protection,” then two, and then he bought several rifles. The man ultimately switched his political affiliation from Democratic to Republican because he worried that liberals would take his guns.

Gun politics can also be tribalizing, divisive , even antidemocratic . After the death of George Floyd, gun sellers played on fears and conspiracies to foment white anxiety about Black violence while at the same time citing concerns about police brutality to market semiautomatic weapons to Black and Latino populations. Pro-gun courts in the U.S. overturn firearm safety laws put in place by voters .

The right-wing Netanyahu government was doing more than adopting U.S. gun laws: It was also adopting a version of the NRA’s divisive playbook.

The Middle East represents a profoundly different context. But as I tracked Israel’s changing gun policies, it appeared that the right-wing Netanyahu government was doing more than adopting U.S. gun laws: It was also adopting a version of the NRA’s divisive playbook . Ben Gvir’s gun policies papered over security lapses, weakened trust in democratic institutions, and exacerbated existing political and social divides.

For instance, Israeli data had shown that shockingly few terror attacks are stopped by civilians with guns. Still, the Netanyahu government relaxed regulations around shooting other people based on American-style stand-your-ground justice, and doubled down even after civilians were shot and killed in “ crossfire ” shootouts.

Disproportionate numbers of the newly distributed guns ended up in the hands of supporters of Netanyahu’s conservative/religious coalition. Armed Jewish security squads formed in so-called “mixed cities” where both Jewish and Palestinian Israeli citizens live. Armed violence against Palestinians also escalated in the occupied West Bank—where members of Jewish settler groups had long been allowed to carry weapons, while Palestinians had not.

W hat does it mean for a nation whose guiding health principles were built on social-democratic solidarity to so rapidly adopt American-style armed individualism ?

After October 7, I started asking my former collaborators—leftist Israeli Jewish and Palestinian clinicians, advocates, journalists, organizers, and academics.

“We’ve been attacked,” many told me in the fall, shattered by the violence and the plight of hostages; they understood the desire for firearms. At the same time, no one could believe how many guns flooded in. “People we never imagined are lining up for permits and carrying guns,” one activist said during a group Zoom conversation. Others on the call chimed in. “My husband.” “My grocer.” “My father-in-law.” “Me.”

Being “like the U.S.” when it came to guns emerged as a source of inquietude. One activist lived in a Tel Aviv suburb a block away from a building that was hit by a rocket. Sirens rang in the background when we spoke; still he wondered, “I keep fearing that once peace does come, with all these guns around, how long will it take until we see our first American-style mass shooting?”

An ER doctor told a story about bickering neighbors holding up guns mid-argument. She asked a question that months before would have been unimaginable: “Do you think U.S. gun safety groups might be willing to take up our cause?”

“What violence is being done in our name?” an activist asked as the human catastrophe in Gaza spiraled over subsequent months.

Meanwhile, Ben-Gvir was arming his own controversial security apparatus on the West Bank and promoting racist notions of Jewish “supremacy.”

Lax gun laws increasingly portended existential threats to the socialist underpinnings of Israeli public health, and broader erosions of civil liberties. A leading peace activist detailed ways that the “gun drive is running roughshod over democratic procedures,” and going hand-in-hand with “rising authoritarianism” and “a trajectory of increasingly violent police responses against anti-war protesters.”

Gun safety groups mobilized in opposition .  “I don’t really think Ben-Gvir wants Israelis to feel safe,” a Palestinian Israeli lawyer explained in late December. “He wants settlers and crazies to intimidate others.”

Gun proliferation that began as a response to an external threat had become an enforcer of expansive internal agendas .

T ensions surrounding Israel’s guns became more divisive over time.

Liberal and secular Israelis had long found common cause with U.S. progressives around matters including racism and reparation , gay and trans rights, climate change , health equity , and regional peace . But by January, as seeming allies abroad protested against not just the war in Gaza but the existence of Israel itself, an Israeli Jewish journalist wondered whether disarmament would become more difficult as the country became increasingly isolated. She worried that feeling “under siege, not just by our enemies and Netanyahu but also by the supposedly liberal, modern people in the West who we thought we were part of” would make it harder for Israelis to imagine or “do peace.”

A safety activist told me in mid-March that “anchoring disarmament of the public sphere to peace would mean placing it in the very distant future…so in our messaging to Israeli gun owners, we now tend to speak about an ultimate transition to relative calm.”

However such efforts evolve, it becomes increasingly clear that the decisions Israel makes about gun proliferation today will go a long way toward shaping the future of the nation.

The country can overturn Ben-Gvir’s disastrous gun policies and begin the hard work of countering their polarizing health, social, and political effects.  Such an approach depends on larger upstream commitments to regional stability , and a renewed commitment to what Haaretz calls “the contract between state and citizen” that lies at the core of democracy and public health.

Or Israel can remain a fortress that—similar to the U.S. castle doctrine—arms itself ever more defensively in anticipation of real and speculative threats.

If I’ve learned anything from studying the U.S., an armed and internally divided nation is a nation less able to negotiate, effectively legislate, or meaningfully compromise.

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How Originalism Ate The Law: The Trap

Part two of a series examining the theory of constitutional interpretation that has eaten the law and gobbled up a bunch of your rights with it.

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Episode Notes

Get your tickets for Amicus Live in Washington DC here.

In the second part of our series on Amicus and at Slate.com , Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern are back on the originalism beat. This week they’re trying to understand the mechanisms of what Professor Saul Cornell calls “the originalism industrial complex” and how those mechanisms plug into the highest court in the land. They’re also asking how and why liberals failed to find an effective answer to originalism, even as the various “originalist” ways of deciding who’s history counts, what constitutional law counts, which people count, were supercharged by Trump’s SCOTUS picks. Madiba Dennie, author of The Originalism Trap , highlights how the Supreme Court turned to originalism to gut voting rights. In 2022, the US Supreme Court’s originalism binge ran roughshod over precedent and unleashed Dobbs and Bruen on the American people - Mark and Dahlia talk to a state Supreme Court justice about what it’s like trying to apply the law amid these constitutional earthquakes.

In today’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Dahlia talks to AJ Jacobs about his year of living constitutionally, and she confesses to an attempt to smuggle contraband into One, First Street.

Want more Amicus? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock exclusive SCOTUS analysis and weekly extended episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.

Dahlia’s book  Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America , is also available as an audiobook, and  Amicus listeners can get a 25 percent discount by entering the code “AMICUS” at checkout .

Lady Justice: Women, the Law and the Battle to Save America

Dahlia Lithwick, one of the nation’s foremost legal commentators, tells the gripping and heroic story of the women lawyers who fought the racism, sexism, and xenophobia of Donald Trump’s presidency—and won.

About the Show

A show about the law and the nine Supreme Court justices who interpret it for the rest of America.

Dahlia Lithwick writes about the courts and the law for Slate and hosts the podcast Amicus .

Mark Joseph Stern is a Slate senior writer.