Fear of Crime, Implicit Bias and Gun Ownership

Background:  National media coverage of police shootings of racial and ethnic minorities has sparked a national discussion around race, policing, and use of force.  The shootings of individuals such as Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis suggest that implicit racial bias may affect shootings that are initiated by civilian gun owners.  However, researchers have devoted considerably less attention to civilian-initiated shootings.  Such research is important – particularly in the United States because of the high rates of gun ownership in the country.  This study will test fear of crime and implicit bias towards racial and ethnic minorities as predictors of gun ownership.

Method:  Data for this study are drawn from the Seattle Neighborhoods and Crime Survey (n = 2,266).  Fear of crime was measured using three items that assess how frequently a respondent worries about being physically attacked, having someone breaking into their home, and whether the respondent believes that their neighborhood is safe.  Implicit bias was measured using four items assessing respondents’ perceptions of whether four racial or ethnic groups tend to be involved with drugs and gangs (Whites, Asians, Blacks, and Hispanics).

Four logistic regressions were conducted to predict the odds of gun ownership – one testing for each implicit bias variable.  All logistic regressions included the fear of crime variables and controlled for neighborhood level variables (e.g neighborhood racial composition), and individual level characteristics (e.g. gender).

Results:  Gender was the strongest predictor of gun ownership with the odds of gun ownership being roughly 150% higher for males.  Living in a predominately white neighborhood was associated with 27%-30% lower odds of gun ownership.  Of the fear of crime variables, the only significant predictor of gun ownership was fear of someone breaking into their home, which was associated with 30% higher odds of gun ownership in each regression.

Bivariate comparisons show that gun owners believe that Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians are more likely to be involved in drugs and gangs compared to non-gun owners.  There were no differences between gun owners and non-gun owners in terms of whether whites tend to be involved in drugs and gangs.  The belief that Hispanics tend to be involved in drugs and gangs was associated with the largest increase in the odds of gun ownership (55%) followed by blacks (52%) and Asians (35%).  The belief that whites tend to be involved in drugs and gangs was not a significant predictor of gun ownership.

Conclusions:  The fear of someone breaking into a home is a significant predictor of gun ownership.  However, implicit bias towards racial and ethnic minorities is a stronger predictor of gun ownership.  The relationship between racial bias and gun ownership is also supported by the finding that individuals who live in predominately white neighborhoods are less likely to own a gun.  Taken together, the findings suggest that gun owners value safety.  However, gun owners are more likely to believe that racial and ethnic minorities are involved in crime.  The findings emphasize the importance of racial sensitivity training for gun owners.