Objective:
Firearm owners are often considered as one homogenous group; however, little research actually supports this contention. We utilized latent class analysis to identify different subgroups of firearm owners and found support for a model that described three distinct groups. The first group – “low volume” tended to own only one firearm, usually a handgun stored in their home – and were more likely to utilize safe storage practices. The “moderate” and “high” ownership groups owned more firearms, used less safe storage practices, and endorsed a wider variety of reasons for firearm ownership. Startlingly, approximately one-third of individuals in the “high” ownership group had taken steps towards making a suicide attempt and/or had practiced making a suicide attempt at some point in their lives. These findings highlight the importance of understanding communities embedded within firearm owners in order to better understand risk.
Method:
The present study used latent class analysis (LCA) to identify subgroups of firearm owners who keep firearms primarily for protection (i.e., protective firearm owners) in a national sample of 2311 U.S. adult firearm owners. Self-protection was the primary motive for firearm ownership for 1135 (49.1%) participants. Results of the LCA identified three latent classes that differed with respect to secondary reasons for firearm ownership, number and types of firearms owned, firearm ownership history, and demographics. The smallest latent class (n = 26, 2.3% of protective firearm owners), which owned a high volume of firearms and had high levels of early childhood exposure to firearms, reported significantly higher rates of lifetime preparatory suicidal behaviors.
Project Status:
Completed
Principal Investigator (PI):
Michael D. Anestis PhD, Craig J. Bryan PsyD ABPP, AnnaBelle O. Bryan, MS