{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,1]],"date-time":"2026-08-01T03:11:07Z","timestamp":1785553867507,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":18,"publisher":"American Medical Association (AMA)","issue":"7","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JAMA Netw Open"],"abstract":"\n Importance<\/jats:title>\n Prior research found differences in the perceived safety benefits from firearm exposure among diverse gun owners. More women have bought firearms in recent years, resulting in a growing proportion of women who own guns.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Objective<\/jats:title>\n To examine differences in perceptions of safety among US women, including women who personally own firearms.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Design, Setting, and Participants<\/jats:title>\n This descriptive survey study used data from the nationally representative National Survey of Gun Policy, fielded January 6 to 24, 2025. Participants included members of the AmeriSpeak panel who were invited to, and completed, the survey (survey completion rate, 69.8%; N\u2009=\u20092977) online or by telephone in English or Spanish. This study focused specifically on women respondents.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Exposures<\/jats:title>\n Women respondents were stratified by whether they personally owned a gun, lived in a home with a gun that did not belong to them, or had no guns in the home.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Main Outcomes and Measures<\/jats:title>\n The main outcome was differences in respondents affirming whether \u201cpersonally owning a gun will make me safer\u201d and \u201cI would feel safer if more people were allowed to legally carry guns.\u201d These perceptions were also examined across racial and ethnic subgroups of gun-owning women and by whether protection in or out of the home were important reasons for ownership. Differences were assessed using survey-weighted logistic regression models.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n A total of 1411 women completed the survey. The mean (SE) age of women respondents was 48.4 (0.6) years; 12.8% self-identified as non-Hispanic Black, 17.4% as Hispanic, 60.3% as non-Hispanic White, and 9.5% as non-Hispanic other race. Overall, 41.1% (95% CI, 37.7%-44.4%) of women affirmed that personally owning a gun would make them safer, and 21.3% (95% CI, 18.5%-24.0%) agreed they would feel safer if more people were allowed to legally carry guns. Affirmations were significantly higher among gun-owning women (69.7% [95% CI, 63.0%-76.3%] and 35.3% [95% CI, 28.6%-42.0%], respectively), compared with those living in homes with guns (48.9% [95% CI, 40.6%-57.1%] and 22.2% [95% CI, 15.1%-29.3%]) and gun-free homes (26.0% [95% CI, 22.5%-29.6%] and 14.8% [95% CI, 11.9%-17.8%]). Among gun owners, agreement with perceived safety gains from ownership ranged from 63.2% (95% CI, 36.7%-89.8%) among non-Hispanic other to 72.6% (95% CI, 56.1%-89.1%) among Hispanic respondents, and perceived safety from others carrying from 20.1% (95% CI, 9.4%-30.9%) among Black to 40.5% (95% CI, 13.4%-67.6%) among non-Hispanic other respondents, with no significant differences by racial and ethnic groups. There were no significant differences when comparing those who did vs did not report that protection in the home or out of the home were important reasons for ownership.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusions and Relevance<\/jats:title>\n In this survey study of US women, more than half of overall respondents perceived they would not feel safer with greater exposure to firearms, although results varied by personal gun ownership. As gun ownership diversifies, these findings highlight the importance of attending to perceptions of safety in discussions of interventions to reduce gun violence.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1001\/jamanetworkopen.2026.25985","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,31]],"date-time":"2026-07-31T15:30:21Z","timestamp":1785511821000},"page":"e2625985","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Guns and Perceptions of Safety Among US Women"],"prefix":"10.1001","volume":"9","author":[{"given":"Cassandra K.","family":"Crifasi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Gun Violence Solutions, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elizabeth","family":"Wagner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Gun Violence Solutions, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rebecca","family":"Valek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Oregon Health & Science University\u2013Portland State University School of Public Health, Portland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Vanya C.","family":"Jones","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Gun Violence Solutions, Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Julie A.","family":"Ward","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine, Health, and Society, College of Arts and Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"10","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,31]]},"reference":[{"issue":"2","key":"zoi260716r1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"219","DOI":"10.7326\/M21-3423","article-title":"Firearm purchasing during the COVID-19 pandemic: results from the 2021 National Firearms Survey.","volume":"175","author":"Miller","year":"2022","journal-title":"Ann Intern Med"},{"issue":"1","key":"zoi260716r2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.1136\/injuryprev-2018-042991","article-title":"Gun ownership among US women.","volume":"26","author":"Wolfson","year":"2020","journal-title":"Inj Prev"},{"issue":"1","key":"zoi260716r3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jamanetworkopen.2021.42995","article-title":"Assessment of reasons for ownership and attitudes about policies among firearm owners with and without children.","volume":"5","author":"Ye","year":"2022","journal-title":"JAMA Netw Open"},{"issue":"1","key":"zoi260716r4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"14","DOI":"10.1017\/jme.2023.38","article-title":"Differences in perceptions of gun-related safety by race and gun ownership in the United States.","volume":"51","author":"Ward","year":"2023","journal-title":"J Law Med Ethics"},{"issue":"1","key":"zoi260716r5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"38","DOI":"10.1089\/vio.2022.0001","article-title":"Black women & gun ownership in America: an exploratory study of motivations and strategy.","volume":"10","author":"Bowen","year":"2023","journal-title":"Violence Gend"},{"issue":"19-20","key":"zoi260716r6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"NP18032","DOI":"10.1177\/08862605211035865","article-title":"Increased risks or peace of mind? Exploring fear, victimization, and safety strategies among women planning to get a gun.","volume":"37","author":"Logan","year":"2022","journal-title":"J Interpers Violence"},{"issue":"5","key":"zoi260716r7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"730","DOI":"10.1016\/j.amepre.2024.06.026","article-title":"Reasons for gun ownership among demographically diverse new and prior gun owners.","volume":"67","author":"Ward","year":"2024","journal-title":"Am J Prev Med"},{"issue":"1","key":"zoi260716r8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"153","DOI":"10.1177\/02761467231221227","article-title":"Advertising frames and the legitimation of the armed American woman.","volume":"44","author":"Huff","year":"2024","journal-title":"J Macromark"},{"issue":"9","key":"zoi260716r10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1472","DOI":"10.2105\/AJPH.2025.308152","article-title":"Public firearms carriage and public opinion, national gun policy survey, 2023.","volume":"115","author":"Crifasi","year":"2025","journal-title":"Am J Public Health"},{"issue":"1","key":"zoi260716r14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"77","DOI":"10.1177\/07311214211028603","article-title":"Feminism and firearms: gun ownership, gun carrying, and women\u2019s empowerment.","volume":"65","author":"Kelley","year":"2021","journal-title":"Sociol Perspect"},{"issue":"1","key":"zoi260716r15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"19","DOI":"10.1089\/vio.2019.0037","article-title":"Female firepower: gun ownership for self-protection among female intimate partner violence victims.","volume":"7","author":"Lynch","year":"2019","journal-title":"Violence Gend"},{"issue":"2","key":"zoi260716r16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"101","DOI":"10.7326\/M13-1301","article-title":"The accessibility of firearms and risk for suicide and homicide victimization among household members: a systematic review and meta-analysis.","volume":"160","author":"Anglemyer","year":"2014","journal-title":"Ann Intern Med"},{"issue":"6","key":"zoi260716r17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"582","DOI":"10.1001\/jamapsychiatry.2022.0793","article-title":"Suicide deaths among women in California living with handgun owners vs those living with other adults in handgun-free homes, 2004-2016.","volume":"79","author":"Miller","year":"2022","journal-title":"JAMA Psychiatry"},{"issue":"3","key":"zoi260716r18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"246","DOI":"10.1177\/1524838007303505","article-title":"Intimate partner homicide: review and implications of research and policy.","volume":"8","author":"Campbell","year":"2007","journal-title":"Trauma Violence Abuse"},{"key":"zoi260716r9","unstructured":"American Association for Public Opinion Research. 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