Public Opinion on Firearms and Racial Disparities

Tens of thousands of people are killed annually due to gun violence in the United States. This includes community, police, and intimate partner violence. In recent years these statistics have risen, despite that overall crime rates have fallen; that is there is something unique about gun violence. Moreover, gun violence disproportionately affects communities of color.

It is well-documented that gun purchases exhibit predictable spikes following high profile violent events, and the vast majority of gun buyers report that protection from others is a primary reason for purchasing a firearm. Individuals may also be driven by perceptions about risk for victimization which may be informed by racialized experiences of violence - and these perceptions may not be accurate.

Therefore, information is needed to understand perceptions of disparities in gun violence victimization, overall and by racial subgroups of gun owners and non-owners.

Vanderbilt's Approach:

Julie Ward, assistant professor of Medicine, Health, and Society, is an emerging thought leader on public opinion about firearms in the United States. Together with collaborators at Johns Hopkins University, she has surveyed thousands of adults about their views on issues related to firearm ownership and racial equity to provide new insight into racialized experiences of firearm victimization, ownership, and related risks. Specifically, the 2021 National Survey of Gun Policy is the latest in a series dating back to 2013. Twenty nine percent of the sample owns a gun.

These data indicated that most Americans are aware of racial disparities in gun homicide. Black gun owners are most aware of those disparities, followed by non-owners, White gun owners, and Hispanic gun owners. Black gun owners had more than twice the odds of acknowledging gun homicide disparities as White gun owners. Importantly, given the changing policy environment in the United States resulting in more permissive gun carrying, Dr. Ward's results indicate that people generally do not agree that more widespread gun carrying makes people safer. Black Americans in particular are skeptical of this idea.

A registered nurse and public health scholar by training, Dr. Ward has a history of cross-disciplinary collaboration and plans to continue this important line of inquiry with her existing partners and new team members at Vanderbilt across units.