Self-Protection versus Fear of Stricter Firearm Regulations: Examining the Drivers of Firearm Acquisitions in the Aftermath of a Mass Shooting.
other · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 33205129.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1016/j.patter.2020.100082 and PMC identifier 7660383.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Discovering causal mechanisms underlying firearm acquisition can provide critical insight into firearm-related violence in the United States. Here, we established an information-theoretic framework to address the long-disputed dichotomy between self-protection and fear of firearm regulations as potential drivers of firearm acquisition in the aftermath of a mass shooting. We collected data on mass shootings, federal background checks, media output on firearm control and shootings, and firearm safety laws from 1999 to 2017. First, we conducted a cluster analysis to partition States according to the restrictiveness of their firearm-related legal environment. Then, we performed a transfer entropy analysis to unveil causal relationships at the State-level in the Wiener-Granger sense. The analysis suggests that fear of stricter firearm regulations is a stronger driver than the desire of self-protection for firearm acquisitions. This fear is likely to cross State borders, thereby shaping a collective pattern of firearm acquisition throughout the Nation.