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The Impact of Gun Ownership Rates on Crime Rates: A Methodological Review of the Evidence

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  • Kleck, Gary

Abstract

This paper reviews 41 English-language studies that tested the hypothesis that higher gun prevalence levels cause higher crime rates, especially higher homicide rates.

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  • Kleck, Gary, 2015. "The Impact of Gun Ownership Rates on Crime Rates: A Methodological Review of the Evidence," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 40-48.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jcjust:v:43:y:2015:i:1:p:40-48
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2014.12.002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Miller, Matthew & Hemenway, David & Azrael, Deborah, 2007. "State-level homicide victimization rates in the US in relation to survey measures of household firearm ownership, 2001-2003," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 656-664, February.
    2. Miron, Jeffrey A, 2001. "Violence, Guns, and Drugs: A Cross-Country Analysis," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 44(2), pages 615-633, October.
    3. Siegel, M. & Negussie, Y. & Vanture, S. & Pleskunas, J. & Ross, C.S. & King, C., III, 2014. "The relationship between gun ownership and stranger and nonstranger firearm homicide rates in the United States, 1981-2010," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(10), pages 1912-1919.
    4. Bice, Douglas C & Hemley, David D, 2002. "The Market for New Handguns: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(1), pages 251-265, April.
    5. Southwick, Lawrence, 2000. "Self-defense with guns: The consequences," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 351-370.
    6. Kleck, Gary & Kovandzic, Tomislav & Saber, Mark & Hauser, Will, 2011. "The effect of perceived risk and victimization on plans to purchase a gun for self-protection," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 312-319, July.
    7. Mark Duggan, 2001. "More Guns, More Crime," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(5), pages 1086-1114, October.
    8. Carlisle E. Moody & Thomas B. Marvell, 2005. "Guns and Crime," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 71(4), pages 720-736, April.
    9. Lawrence Southwick, 1997. "Do guns cause crime? Does crime cause guns? A granger test," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 25(3), pages 256-273, September.
    10. Bruce L. Benson & Paul R. Zimmerman (ed.), 2010. "Handbook on the Economics of Crime," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13180.
    11. Carlisle E. Moody, 2010. "Firearms and Homicide," Chapters, in: Bruce L. Benson & Paul R. Zimmerman (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Crime, chapter 17, Edward Elgar Publishing.
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    Cited by:

    1. Steffen Hurka & Christoph Knill, 2020. "Does regulation matter? A cross‐national analysis of the impact of gun policies on homicide and suicide rates," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(4), pages 787-803, October.
    2. S. E. Costanza & Ronald Helms & John C. Kilburn & David A. Bowers, 2020. "Criminal Threat, Immigrant/Minority Threat, and Political Ideology: An Examination of Handgun Permits Across Texas Counties," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1442-1460, July.
    3. Schiff, Maurice, 2019. "Greater US Gun Ownership, Lethality and Murder Rates: Analysis and Policy Proposals," GLO Discussion Paper Series 421, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Daniel Cerqueira & Danilo Coelho & Marcelo Fernandes & Jony Pinto Junior, 2018. "Guns and Suicides," The American Statistician, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 72(3), pages 289-294, July.
    5. Matthew Lang, 2016. "State Firearm Sales and Criminal Activity: Evidence from Firearm Background Checks," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 83(1), pages 45-68, July.
    6. Marco Rogna & Bich Diep Nguyen, 2022. "Firearms law and fatal police shootings: a panel data analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(27), pages 3121-3137, June.
    7. Crokidakis, Nuno, 2022. "Modeling the impact of civilian firearm ownership in the evolution of violent crimes," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 429(C).
    8. Hamlin, Daniel, 2021. "Are gun ownership rates and regulations associated with firearm incidents in American schools? A forty-year analysis (1980–2019)," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    9. Bilgel, Firat, 2020. "State Gun Control Laws, Gun Ownership and the Supply of Homicide Organ Donors," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    10. Jessica Jumee Kim & Kenneth C. Wilbur, 2022. "Proxies for legal firearm prevalence," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 239-273, September.
    11. Caillin Langmann, 2020. "Effect of firearms legislation on suicide and homicide in Canada from 1981 to 2016," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-17, June.

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