IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jconsa/v56y2022i2p925-937.html

Evaluation of the association between the flow of firearms and mass shooting deaths

Author

Listed:
  • Chip E. Miller
  • Andrew Bryant

Abstract

Mass shootings are a human‐made disaster that plagues the United States. However, data on mass shootings and firearm sales are not readily available in the United States. We compile a novel dataset to explore this issue by blending annual nationwide data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms' records with mass shooting statistics over 33 years. This dataset overcomes limitations present in previous research on the topic of firearms and mass shootings. Our findings indicate a relationship between more deaths from mass shootings and the production of firearms (flow of firearms). We argue that this is due to an increase in demand derived from the salience of perceived mortality and consumer reactance. Implications on the gun control debate are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Chip E. Miller & Andrew Bryant, 2022. "Evaluation of the association between the flow of firearms and mass shooting deaths," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 925-937, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jconsa:v:56:y:2022:i:2:p:925-937
    DOI: 10.1111/joca.12409
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12409
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/joca.12409?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clee, Mona A & Wicklund, Robert A, 1980. "Consumer Behavior and Psychological Reactance," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 6(4), pages 389-405, March.
    2. Michelle Barnhart & Aimee Dinnin Huff & Brandon McAlexander & James H. McAlexander, 2018. "Preparing for the Attack: Mitigating Risk through Routines in Armed Self-Defense," Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages 27-45.
    3. Regina G. Lawrence & Thomas A. Birkland, 2004. "Guns, Hollywood, and School Safety: Defining the School‐Shooting Problem Across Public Arenas," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1193-1207, December.
    4. Joseph M. Pierre, 2019. "The psychology of guns: risk, fear, and motivated reasoning," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hajiheydari, Nastaran & Delgosha, Mohammad Soltani & Olya, Hossein, 2021. "Scepticism and resistance to IoMT in healthcare: Application of behavioural reasoning theory with configurational perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    2. L. Mundaca & H. Moncreiff, 2021. "New Perspectives on Green Energy Defaults," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 357-383, September.
    3. Joshua Henkel & Georg Schwesinger, 2020. "Establishing Sustainable Consumption - How Future Policies Can Channel Consumer Preferences," Bremen Papers on Economics & Innovation 2007, University of Bremen, Faculty of Business Studies and Economics.
    4. Janice Y. Jung & Barbara A. Mellers, 2016. "American attitudes toward nudges," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 11(1), pages 62-74, January.
    5. Bhanot, Syon P., 2017. "Rank and response: A field experiment on peer information and water use behavior," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 155-172.
    6. Eugene Y. Chan & Jack Lin, 2022. "Political ideology and psychological reactance: how serious should climate change be?," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 172(1), pages 1-22, May.
    7. Gainsbury, Sally M. & Aro, David & Ball, Dianne & Tobar, Christian & Russell, Alex, 2015. "Optimal content for warning messages to enhance consumer decision making and reduce problem gambling," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 2093-2101.
    8. Axel Berger & Tobias Schlager & David E. Sprott & Andreas Herrmann, 2018. "Gamified interactions: whether, when, and how games facilitate self–brand connections," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 652-673, July.
    9. Kandul, Serhiy & Lanz, Bruno, 2021. "Public good provision, in-group cooperation and out-group descriptive norms: A lab experiment," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    10. James J. Zboja & Ronald A. Clark & Diana L. Haytko, 2016. "An offer you can’t refuse: consumer perceptions of sales pressure," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(6), pages 806-821, November.
    11. Wooyong Jo & Sarang Sunder & Jeonghye Choi & Minakshi Trivedi, 2020. "Protecting Consumers from Themselves: Assessing Consequences of Usage Restriction Laws on Online Game Usage and Spending," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(1), pages 117-133, January.
    12. David A. Schweidel & Yakov Bart & J. Jeffrey Inman & Andrew T. Stephen & Barak Libai & Michelle Andrews & Ana Babić Rosario & Inyoung Chae & Zoey Chen & Daniella Kupor & Chiara Longoni & Felipe Thomaz, 2022. "How consumer digital signals are reshaping the customer journey," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(6), pages 1257-1276, November.
    13. Hughner, Renée Shaw & Dumitrescu, Claudia, 2024. "The effectiveness of sugar-sweetened beverage warning labels: An examination of consumer reactance and cost of compliance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    14. Bruns, Hendrik & Perino, Grischa, 2023. "The role of autonomy and reactance for nudging — Experimentally comparing defaults to recommendations and mandates," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    15. Fu, Feng & Rockmore, Daniel N., 2024. "Too little, too late – a dynamical systems model for gun-related violence and intervention," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 467(C).
    16. Pabitra Chatterjee & Barthelemy Chollet & Olivier Trendel, 2017. "From conformity to reactance: Contingent role of network centrality in consumer-to-consumer influence," Post-Print hal-01589885, HAL.
    17. Wippell, Jack G.R. & Haynie, Dana L. & Riedman, David, 2026. "Preventable tragedies: A longitudinal analysis of state firearm laws and K-12 school shootings in the United States (2000–2019)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 394(C).
    18. Chad M. Topaz & Gina Jae & Jude Higdon, 2026. "News media coverage of gun violence: a scoping review," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 13(1), pages 1-17, December.
    19. David R. Just & Andrew S. Hanks, 2015. "The Hidden Cost of Regulation: Emotional Responses to Command and Control," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1385-1399.
    20. Gerrath, Maximilian H.E.E. & Olya, Hossein & Shah, Zahra & Li, Huaiyu, 2024. "Virtual influencers and pro-environmental causes: The roles of message warmth and trust in experts," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jconsa:v:56:y:2022:i:2:p:925-937. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0022-0078 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.