Firearm Ownership and Support for Political Violence in the United States: Findings from a Nationally Representative Survey

Abstract

Background: Firearm violence and firearm purchasing have both increased markedly in recent years, and support for violence to advance political objectives (political violence) has become common. This study aims to determine whether firearm owners and nonowners differ in their support for and willingness to engage in political violence and whether, among owners, support varies with type(s) of firearms owned, recency of purchase, and frequency of carrying outside the home.Design, Setting, Participants: Cross-sectional nationally representative survey of US adults conducted May 13 to June 2, 2022 of adult members of the Ipsos KnowledgePanel, with oversamples of firearm owners and other populations of interest.Main Outcomes and Measures: Weighted proportions endorsing violence (“physical force strong enough that it could cause pain or injury to a person”) to advance political objectives. Principal comparisons are between firearm owners and nonowners without firearms at home; secondary comparisons among owners are based on type(s) of firearm owned, recency of latest purchase (2020 or later, 2019 or earlier), and frequency of firearm carrying outside the home.Results: The analytic sample comprised 12,851 respondents: 5820 (45.3%) firearm owners, 6132 (47.7%) nonowners without firearms at home, and 899 (7.0%) nonowners with firearms at home. After weighting, half of the respondents (51.0%, 95% CI 49.9%, 52.1%) were female; 62.6% (95% CI 61.5%, 63.8%) were white, non-Hispanic; mean (SD) age was 48.5 (18.0) years. Owners were more likely than nonowners without firearms at home to consider violence usually or always justified to advance at least 1 of 17 specific political objectives (owners: 38.8%; 95% CI, 37.3%, 40.4%; nonowners without firearms at home: 29.8%; 95% CI, 28.5%, 31.2%). For some individual objectives, nonowners without firearms at home justified violence more frequently than owners did. Owners were generally not more willing than nonowners without firearms at home to engage directly in political violence. Recent purchasers, always/nearly always carriers, and to a lesser extent owners of assault-type rifles were more supportive than other firearm owners of political violence and more willing to engage in it. Conclusions and Relevance: Differences between firearm owners as a whole and nonowners without firearms at home were small to moderate when present and were often absent. Results for several subsets of owners suggest an increased risk for participation in political violence. The findings of this study should help guide efforts to prevent political violence.

Trends in Views of Democracy and Society and Support for Political Violence in the United States: Findings from a 2023 Nationally Representative Survey

“…The first report 9 from that survey presented concerning findings for the population as a whole, among them that nearly one-third of Americans considered violence usually or always justified to advance at least 1 of 17 specified political objectives. Additional reports have examined variation with party affiliation and political ideology 10 and focused on particular populations of interest: MAGA Republicans, 11 firearm owners, 12 and those who hold racist beliefs or approve of specific extremist organizations and movements that have been linked to violence. 13 This paper presents initial findings from Wave 2 of the survey, conducted in mid-2023 among respondents to Wave 1.…”