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Access to Guns in the Heat of the Moment: More Restrictive Gun Laws Mitigate the Effect of Temperature on Violence

Author

Listed:
  • Jonathan Colmer

    (University of Virginia)

  • Jennifer L. Doleac

    (Arnold Ventures)

Abstract

Gun violence is a major problem in the United States, and extensive prior work has shown that higher temperatures increase violent behavior. We consider whether restricting the concealed carry of firearms mitigates or exacerbates the effect of temperature on violence. We use two identification strategies that exploit daily variation in temperature and variation in gun control policies between and within states. We provide evidence that more-prohibitive concealed-carry laws attenuate the temperature-homicide relationship. Our findings are consistent with more-prohibitive policy regimes reducing the lethality of altercations.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan Colmer & Jennifer L. Doleac, 2026. "Access to Guns in the Heat of the Moment: More Restrictive Gun Laws Mitigate the Effect of Temperature on Violence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 108(1), pages 30-43, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:108:y:2026:i:1:p:30-43
    DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01395
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Nikolai Cook, Taylor Wright, 2024. "Don’t Lose Your Cool: Temperature and Gun-Violence in North America," LCERPA Working Papers jc0146, Laurier Centre for Economic Research and Policy Analysis, revised 2024.
    3. Guimbeau, Amanda & Ji, Xinde James & Menon, Nidhiya, 2024. "Climate Shocks, Intimate Partner Violence, and the Protective Role of Climate-Resilience Projects," IZA Discussion Papers 17529, IZA Network @ LISER.
    4. Mario Lackner & Hendrik Sonnabend, 2024. "When performance melts away: Heat causes mental errors in high-stakes competitions," Economics working papers 2024-11, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    5. Garg, Teevrat & McCord, Gordon C. & Montfort, Aleister, 2025. "Can social protection reduce damages from higher temperatures?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    6. Pavanello, Filippo & Valenti, Giulia, 2025. "Mortality, Temperature, and Public Adaptation Policy: Evidence from Italy," FEEM Working Papers 386192, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    7. Mika Akesaka & Hitoshi Shigeoka, 2025. "Hotter Days, Wider Gap: The Distributional Impact of Heat on Student Achievement," Discussion Paper Series DP2025-07, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    8. Donohue, John J. & Cai, Samuel V. & Bondy, Matthew V. & Cook, Philip J., 2025. "Why do right to carry laws increase violence? Effects on gun theft and clearance rates," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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