NCJ Number
181532
Journal
Social Problems Volume: 46 Issue: 2 Dated: May 1999 Pages: 275-293
Date Published
May 1999
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This study examines the relationship between gun ownership and homicidal behavior.
Abstract
The study compared survey data on a nationally representative sample of persons in prison for criminal homicide with data on a nationally representative sample of the general population. A logistic regression analysis was performed on the data, with the dependent variable measuring whether the subject was a killer and the key independent variable being whether the person owned a gun. Control variables included age, sex, race, Hispanic ethnicity, income, education, marital status, region, veteran status, and whether the subject had children. Gun ownership had a weak (odds ratio = 1.36) and unstable relationship with homicidal behavior which was at least partly spurious. Future case-control research needs to measure and control for more potentially confounding variables, for example, gang membership and involvement in drug dealing, and to explicitly test for the possibility of differing levels of underreporting of gun ownership among cases and controls. Tables, notes, references