Adults in the United States Tend to Overstate Protective Value of Firearms

THURSDAY, Feb. 13, 2025 (HealthDay News) — U.S. adults may overstate the protective value of firearms while discounting risk, according to a study published online Feb. 6 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Michael D. Anestis, Ph.D., from the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers University in Piscataway, and colleagues characterized the extent to which individuals perceive value and risk from firearm access and to what extent these perceptions vary across subpopulations. The analysis included survey results from 8,009 individuals.

The researchers found that nearly two-thirds of respondents (63.2 percent) believe firearms increase safety in the case of home invasions. The plurality (36.3 percent) believe that firearm access has no impact on suicide risk. Respondents who perceive greater protective value from firearms tended to perceive less association between firearm access and suicide risk. Furthermore, individuals endorsing conspiratorial beliefs and those who report typically storing firearms loaded and unlocked perceived even greater protective value and lower suicide risk. Respondents with prior gun violence exposure perceived greater protective value, but had similar levels of perceived suicide risk. 

“An imbalance in the available information on the risks and benefits of firearm access may perpetuate risky behaviors,” the authors write.

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