Study: Owning a gun has little to do with fear

TALLAHASSEE — A recent study out of Florida State University suggests that owning a firearm does not indicate the owner does so due to a fear or phobia. In fact, gun owners tend to report less fear than their counterparts. [H/T Study Finds]

The study's co-author, Benjamin Dowd-Arrow, a sociology doctoral candidate at the university says, “There’s a lot of popular rhetoric in the media and among politicians as to why people own guns. The biggest claim is that they’re cowards. So, we wanted to see if owning guns was truly a symptom of fear.”

The researchers used a standard test to measure the level of fear gun owners have in comparison to non-gun owners. Specifically, they investigated phobias and victimization tendencies.

The first analysis investigated whether or not gun ownership was a result of fear. It was found that for the most part, fear was not related to the probability of owning a gun, however, there were some exceptions: adults who reported fear of animals or a potential mugging were actually less likely to own a gun. 

On the other hand, adults who reported being afraid of getting caught in a random or mass shooting situation were more likely to own a gun.

The next part of the research explored the fears of current gun owners. Contrary to popular leftist beliefs, it was found that gun owners report fewer phobias and fears of becoming a victim than non-gun owners. These findings were consistent across a variety of fears and phobias, including fear of heights, animals, or being mugged.

“There’s little evidence to suggest that gun ownership is an effect of fear,” Dowd-Arrow says. “However, gun ownership may be associated with less fear because firearms help their owners to feel safe, secure and protected in a world they perceive to be uncertain and potentially dangerous.”

And what's wrong with that?

The study is published in the scientific journal SSM – Population Health.

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