U.S. crime victims more likely to own guns for protection: Gallup

Americans who have been recent crime victims report higher rates of gun ownership than those who have not been victims, according to a Gallup poll released Monday.

According to an analysis from Gallup Crime surveys, 33 percent of U.S. adults who have been recent victims of assault, theft or property crimes own a gun. That number is compared with 28 percent of those who have not been victims -- a statistically significant difference, Gallup found.

U.S. gun policy has come under increased scrutiny in recent decades, driven partly by mass shootings but also by the high rate of gun-related homicides. For crime victims, the threat of victimization is no longer a possibility but a reality. Crime victims' desire to protect themselves may explain why many gun owners do not favor stricter gun laws, and why gun owners as well as non-owners are reluctant to back outright bans on guns, Gallup found.

As part of its annual crime survey, Gallup asks Americans whether in the past 12 months they personally have been the victim of a number of crimes, including burglary, property theft, assault and vandalism. In most years the survey has also asked Americans whether they personally own a gun, Gallup found.

The analysis is based on a combined 11,165 interviews from those surveys. Overall, an average of 17 percent of Americans reported being the victim of at least one of the crimes in those polls, and 29 percent said they personally owned a gun, Gallup said.

Although it is not possible to know whether the crime prompted the individual to buy a gun or if the person owned a gun before the crime occurred, the modest yet significant relationship between recent crime victimization and gun ownership is clear. Also, because the survey asks only about crime victimization in the last 12 months, it is possible many people victimized by crimes in the more distant past bought a gun in reaction to those crimes. Thus, the analysis may understate the relationship between crime victimization and gun ownership, Gallup found.

Past Gallup analysis has shown that men are far more likely than women to own a gun -- in fact, gender is the strongest predictor of gun ownership. For both men and women, gun ownership is higher among crime victims than non-victims. Specifically, 48 percent of men who have experienced a recent personal or property crime own a gun, compared with 43 percent of men who have not been victimized. Meanwhile, 19 percent of female crime victims own a gun, compared with 14 percent of all other women, Gallup said.

Gun ownership overall is also much higher among those living in towns or rural areas, at 39 percent, than those living in suburbs, at 28 percent, or cities, at 22 percent. Suburban and rural crime victims show higher gun ownership rates than their non-victim counterparts, but this is not true among urban residents. To some degree, tougher restrictions on gun ownership in many cities may make it harder for crime victims to obtain guns, Gallup found.

Being a crime victim can understandably motivate someone to purchase a gun, but so can the fear of becoming a victim, even for those who have not been victims. The relationships between crime fears and gun ownership are complex, largely because subgroups who are more likely to own guns, particularly men, are also much less likely to say they are afraid of crime, Gallup said. Enditem