Goal
The goal of this module is to explore generational trends in Americans' attitudes about gun ownership and to investigate how fear of crime and victimization might be related to attitudes about gun ownership. Crosstabulation will be used.
Concept
The rates of violent crime and shooting deaths in the U.S. are several times higher than in comparable industrialized countries around the world. The U.S. also has very high rates of gun ownership. Research suggests that attitudes about gun ownership are related to people's fear of crime.
Fear of crime has been the focus of much discussion, academic research, and policy initiatives over the past four decades. Common sense would suggest that fear of crime is related to crime victimization, and that the two factors in turn affect attitudes about gun ownership. However, research shows that these relationships are neither as straightforward nor as strong as one might think.
Examples of possible research questions about attitudes toward gun ownership and fear of crime:
Do attitudes about gun ownership and gun control vary by race, age, gender, income level and location?
What reasons do people give for owning a firearm?
Are attitudes about gun ownership related to fear of crime, and if so, how?
Does crime victimization affect one's attitudes about gun ownership and gun control?
The National Firearms Survey (1999)provides information on gun ownership and attitudes about gun ownership in the U.S. Respondents were asked whether they, or someone in their household, owned a gun; their reason for owning a firearm; whether they had ever been the victim of a violent crime; whether they had ever used a gun in self-defense; how safe they felt in their neighborhood; whether guns should be allowed in public places; whether they would favor or oppose a program to reduce gun injuries. The survey also includes demographic information, such as gender, age, race, household income and education level.
This exercise will use the following variables:
For this exercise you will use crosstabulation to explore generational trends in Americans' attitudes about gun ownership and to examine the relationship between fear of crime and gun ownership.
For ease of analysis, we recoded the age group variable (V117) into 4 categories (18-25, 26-40, 41-59, and 60 and above) and named the new variable
Gun Ownership, Crime Victimization, and Fear of Crime
The variable VA9 measures gun ownership. We recoded it to exclude missing data and called the new variable
Next look at the variable VA10, which indicates reasons for owning a firearm. To simplify the analysis we collapsed some categories into "other." The new variable is called
The variable VC26 shows whether respondents were ever threatened with a gun in the last 5 years. Take a look at the crosstab of
Finally, consider whether respondents have ever used a gun for self-defense purposes. This is measured by the variable VE52. Look at the crosstab of
Attitudes about Gun Ownership
To gauge respondents' attitudes about gun ownership, look at the variable V2A, in which respondents report whether they would feel safer if more people in their community owned a gun. We recoded the variable to exclude respondents who said that they had no opinion. The new variable is called
Does fear of crime and crime victimization influence people's attitudes about gun ownership and gun control? To find out, we recoded variable V1A (safety of neighborhood) to exclude respondents who answered "don't know" and collapsed the categories to two (1="unsafe," 2="safe"). The new variable is called
Finally, run a new crosstab of
Think about your answers to the application questions before you click through to the interpretation guide for help in answering them.
Gun Ownership, Crime Victimization, and Fear of Crime
What is the rate of gun ownership for each age group? Which age group is most likely to own a gun? Which group is least likely to own one?
What is the main reason given for owning a gun in each of the age groups in the study?
What percentage of respondents has been victimized with a gun? Which age group has the highest rate of victimization? Which group has the lowest?
Which age groups are the least likely and the most likely to have used a gun in self-defense?
Attitudes about Gun Ownership
What percentage of respondents report that they would feel safer if gun ownership increased in their community? What percentage would feel less safe? Do all age groups feel the same way regarding this?
Do people who live in unsafe neighborhoods hold different attitudes about increased gun ownership compared to those who live in safe neighborhoods?
Is victimization (or the threat of victimization) related to respondents' attitudes about increased gun ownership in their community?
Interpretation
Things to think about in interpreting the results:
It is important to look at the amount of missing data in each relationship and think about the ways in which that might affect the generalizability of the results.
Similarly it is important to look at the actual numbers, and not just the percentages, in each cell of the crosstabulation tables. Low cell counts are problematic.
Weights (mathematical formulas) are often used to adjust the sample proportions, usually by race, sex, or age, to more closely match those of the general population. The analyses used in this guide did not use any weights, which may reduce the generalizability of the findings, but the resulting tables are accurate descriptions of the relationships found between these variables among these respondents.
Reading the results:
The numbers in each cell of the crosstabulation tables show the percent of the people who fall into the overlapping categories, followed by the actual number of people that represents this sample. The coloring in the tables demonstrates how the observed numbers in each cell compares to the expected number if there were no association between the two variables. The accompanying bar charts display the patterns visually as well.
The use of column percentages, as shown in these tables, allows for the comparison of answers to the "outcome" of interest across values of the grouping variable. For example, only 6.2% of 18-25 year-olds believe that increased gun ownership would lead to greater safety.
The analyses show the following:
Gun ownership increases with age. 48.1% of the 18-25 year-olds in the sample report owning a gun, compared to 67.8% of people 60 and older.
The reasons that people give for owning a firearm differ by age, and the contrast appears the greatest between the youngest and the oldest age groups. Among the youngest, 28% say that they own a gun for protection, and 48% say it is for hunting. However among the oldest group this pattern is almost exactly reversed, with 43.4% reporting that they own a gun for protection, and 27% for hunting.
Respondents' reports of being threatened with a gun differ by age. 16.3% of 18-25 year-olds, but only 1.1% of people 60 and older, say that they have been threatened with a gun in the past 5 years.
People in the oldest age bracket are also the least likely to have used a gun in a situation where they needed to defend themselves: only 0.5% of older respondents have, compared to 3.2% of 26-40 year-olds.
Support for having more guns in the community increases with age. 17.8% of people 60 and older say that they would feel safer if more people owned a gun, compared to 6.2% of 18-25 year-olds. Younger people are more likely than older people to report that they would feel less safe if gun ownership increased in their community.
Residents of unsafe neighborhoods are more likely than residents of safe neighborhoods to think that increased gun ownership in the community would make them less safe (62.9% vs. 48.8%).
Overall, having been threatened with a gun appears to make little difference in people's attitudes about whether more guns in the community would make them safer.
Summary
The goal of this exercise was to explore the relationship between attitudes about gun ownership and age, and to examine whether victimization and fear of crime are related to attitudes about gun ownership. Taken together the results show that the people least likely to be victimized (60 and older) are the most likely of all age groups to own a gun and to own it for protection. They are also more likely than younger generations to support increased gun ownership for increased safety. Younger respondents, on the other hand, are more likely to think that increased gun ownership would lead to decreased safety. Residents of unsafe neighborhoods show little support for the idea that increased gun ownership would make them safer and, except for the 18-25 age group, victimization seems to make little difference in people's attitudes about gun ownership as it relates to safety. However, low cell counts in some of the analyses make it difficult to draw solid conclusions regarding the relationship between victimization and attitudes about gun ownership. The analyses point to the multidimensional nature of fear of crime, victimization, and attitudes about gun ownership.