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Harvard Injury Control Research Center

Gun Carrying


Gun carrying and road rage, Arizona:
Using data from a telephone survey in Arizona, we examined the relationship between road rage and gun carrying in motor vehicles.
Major Findings:  Self-reported hostile actions (e.g. obscene gestures, cursing or shouting, aggressively tailgating) were more common among men, young adults, and individuals who carried a firearm in their car.
Publication: Miller, Matthew; Azrael, Deborah; Hemenway, David; Solop, Frederic I.  "Road Rage in Arizona: Armed and Dangerous?" Accident Analysis and Prevention. 2002; 34:807-814.


Gun carrying and road rage, US
Over 2,400 licensed drivers responded to questions about their own aggressive driving in a 2004 national random digit dial survey.
Major findings: Seventeen percent of respondents admitted to making obscene or rude gestures in the past year, and another 9% admitted to aggressively following too closely.  Males, young adults, binge drinkers, those ever arrested for a non-traffic violation, and motorists who had been in a vehicle in which there was a gun, were more likely to engage in such forms of road rage.
Publication: Hemenway, David; Vriniotis, Mary; Miller, Matthew.  "Is an Armed Society a Polite Society? Guns and Road Rage" Accident Analysis and Prevention. 2006; 38:687-95.


Gun carrying by adolescents
We analyzed data from over 1800 youth in Chicago
Major findings: Aspects of the neighborhood (social disorder, safety, collective efficacy) were important predictors of illegal gun carrying by youth.
Publication: Molnar, Beth; Miller, Matthew; Azrael, Deborah; Buka Steven.  "Neighborhood Predictors of Concealed Firearm Carrying among Children and Adolescents."  Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine.  2004; 158:657-64.

Gun carrying and drug selling.
We analyzed data from interviews of over 200 young men and women at the Rhode Island Correctional Institution.
Major findings: Selling crack was highly associated with gun carrying; using hard drugs was not.  Findings provide further evidence of a crack-gun connection. 
Publication:  Kacanek, Deborah; Hemenway, David. "Gun Carrying and Drug Selling Among Youth Incarcerated Men and Women." Journal of Urban Health. 2006; 83:266-74.


Attitudes about gun carrying.
This paper uses data from two national random-digit-dial surveys to examine public attitudes about gun carrying.
Major Findings: By a margin of 5 to 1, Americans feel less safe rather than more safe as more people in their community begin to carry guns.  By margins of at least 9 to 1, Americans do not believe that regular citizens should be allowed to bring their guns into restaurants, college campuses, sports stadium, bars, hospitals or government buildings.
Publication:  Hemenway, David; Azrael, Deborah; Miller, Matthew.  "U.S. National Attitudes Concerning Gun Carrying."  Injury Prevention.  2001; 7:282-285.