Gun rights advocates frequently argue that private citizens who own and use a firearm for self-defense can help save lives.
But new research from the Rutgers School of Public Health finds gun owners rarely use their weapons for protection. The national study from the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center published in the JAMA Network Open revealed less than 1% of more than 3,000 gun owners surveyed across the country have used their firearm for self-defense within the last year. Roughly 92% have never used firearm to protect themselves.
The study also found that people who view the world as unsafe are more likely to be distrustful of others and may be more likely to want a gun. And adults with firearm access are more likely to be exposed to gun violence than they are to use it for defense.
“People are buying firearms to keep themselves safe, that’s their motivation for purchasing, but maybe they’ve been mislead about how frequently that happens and they’ve been undersold about how frequently the same folks are actually exposed to gun violence,” said Mike Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center. “So, they’re making a cost benefit decision without all the right numbers in hand.”
“Less than 1% of folks with firearms in our sample had engaged in defensive gun use in the past year, but a substantial number of them had known someone who died by firearm suicide,” said Anestis. “Or know someone else who had been shot or witnessed the shooting in their neighborhood.”
