Harvard Injury Control Research Center

63-64. Public attitudes about gun policy proposals
We analyzed surveys of the American public over time.
Major findings: Household gun ownership levels have been decreasing in the United States since the 1980s. Most adults, and even most gun owners, favor most gun control laws short of bans on gun ownership.
Publication: Blendon, Robert J; Young, John T; Hemenway, David. “The American Public and the Gun Control Debate.” JAMA. 1996; 275:1719-22.
Publication: Young, John T; Hemenway, David; Blendon, Robert J; Benson, John M. “Poll Trends on Guns.” Public Opinion Quarterly. 1996; 60:634-649.

65-66. The external psychic costs of gun ownership.
We analyzed whether perceptions of safety might be affected if more people in a community acquired firearms, using data from a national random-digit-dial survey of adults conducted under the auspices of HICRC.
Major findings: By a margin of more than 3 to 1, Americans would feel less safe, not safer, as others in their community acquire guns. Among women, but not among men, those who have been threatened with a gun are particularly likely to feel less safe.
Publication: Hemenway, David; Solnick, Sara J; Azrael, Deborah R. “Firearms and Community Feelings of Safety.” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. 1995; 86:121-132.
Publication: Miller, Matthew; Azrael, Deborah; Hemenway, David. "Community Firearms and Community Fear." Epidemiology. 2000; 11:709-714.

67. 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.