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Do Guns Keep Communities Safe from Burglary?
6/25/2003
Q & A with a Researcher
By Kathleen Nelson
Do guns protect or put you at risk of burglary? Dr. Philip Cook, an economist and professor of Public Policy at Duke University designed a study to answer this question. His guns and burglary research appears in the new book Evaluating Gun Policy, which he edited along with Jens Ludwig. Ludwig is also a co-author for the burglary study.
Join Together: Guns and burglary. What are the arguments?
Cook: There's a lot of discussion on how gun ownership affects burglary. The public especially fears "hot" burglaries where someone is at home. The argument has been that we're lucky to live in a country with many guns because the threat of being shot deters burglars from breaking into occupied dwellings.
Join Together: Is that true?
Cook: We found that residential burglary rates actually tend to increase when there are more guns in a community, and the percentage of those burglaries that are "hot" is not affected by gun prevalence. The deterrent effect appears to be of negligible importance: It's highly unusual for break-ins where someone is home to result in self-defense with a gun.
Join Together: What about burglary rates in countries with fewer guns, like Britain?
Cook: Britain is frequently cited by those who argue for the deterrent effect, because a somewhat higher percentage of residential burglaries there involve occupied dwellings than in the U.S. But that could be true for a variety of reasons, not just because of a difference in gun ownership. For example, penalties for burglary are much less in Britain than in the US. More households in Britain include no adult male residents. So this comparison tells us little or nothing about the role of guns.
Join Together: Instead you compared similar US counties that had different gun-ownership rates.
Cook: Yes, we found that the likelihood of a household being victimized was higher if they lived in a county with high gun prevalence than low prevalence. That finding held true after we adjusted for household characteristics and for the possibility of "reverse causation," or the theory that people arm themselves because they fear burglary. Our study rules out the idea that neighborhoods with a lot of guns will discourage the burglars.
Join Together: Some argue that gun ownership has risks and benefits, just like owning a car. What do you say to that?
Cook: We didn't intend this article to be a risk/benefit assessment of people owning a gun, but more about whether you want to live in a neighborhood where your neighbors own guns. Our research shows that if your neighbors are heavily armed, you're not getting any protection. In fact, it might makes things more dicey. That dovetails nicely with Dr. David Hemenway's research. He asks: Do you feel safe with a gun in your home? Most people say yes. Then he asks: would you feel safer if your neighbors had guns. Most say no.
Cook, P., & Ludwig, J. Guns and Burglary. From Evaluating Gun Policy: Effects on Crime and Violence. Ludwig, J. and Cook, PH, eds. Brookings Institution Press, © 2003.
Miller M., Azrael D., Hemenway D. (2000) Community firearms, community fear. Epidemiology, 11(6): 709-14.
http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/summaries/reader/0,2061,564439,00.html
6/25/2003
Q & A with a Researcher
By Kathleen Nelson
Do guns protect or put you at risk of burglary? Dr. Philip Cook, an economist and professor of Public Policy at Duke University designed a study to answer this question. His guns and burglary research appears in the new book Evaluating Gun Policy, which he edited along with Jens Ludwig. Ludwig is also a co-author for the burglary study.
Join Together: Guns and burglary. What are the arguments?
Cook: There's a lot of discussion on how gun ownership affects burglary. The public especially fears "hot" burglaries where someone is at home. The argument has been that we're lucky to live in a country with many guns because the threat of being shot deters burglars from breaking into occupied dwellings.
Join Together: Is that true?
Cook: We found that residential burglary rates actually tend to increase when there are more guns in a community, and the percentage of those burglaries that are "hot" is not affected by gun prevalence. The deterrent effect appears to be of negligible importance: It's highly unusual for break-ins where someone is home to result in self-defense with a gun.
Join Together: What about burglary rates in countries with fewer guns, like Britain?
Cook: Britain is frequently cited by those who argue for the deterrent effect, because a somewhat higher percentage of residential burglaries there involve occupied dwellings than in the U.S. But that could be true for a variety of reasons, not just because of a difference in gun ownership. For example, penalties for burglary are much less in Britain than in the US. More households in Britain include no adult male residents. So this comparison tells us little or nothing about the role of guns.
Join Together: Instead you compared similar US counties that had different gun-ownership rates.
Cook: Yes, we found that the likelihood of a household being victimized was higher if they lived in a county with high gun prevalence than low prevalence. That finding held true after we adjusted for household characteristics and for the possibility of "reverse causation," or the theory that people arm themselves because they fear burglary. Our study rules out the idea that neighborhoods with a lot of guns will discourage the burglars.
Join Together: Some argue that gun ownership has risks and benefits, just like owning a car. What do you say to that?
Cook: We didn't intend this article to be a risk/benefit assessment of people owning a gun, but more about whether you want to live in a neighborhood where your neighbors own guns. Our research shows that if your neighbors are heavily armed, you're not getting any protection. In fact, it might makes things more dicey. That dovetails nicely with Dr. David Hemenway's research. He asks: Do you feel safe with a gun in your home? Most people say yes. Then he asks: would you feel safer if your neighbors had guns. Most say no.
Cook, P., & Ludwig, J. Guns and Burglary. From Evaluating Gun Policy: Effects on Crime and Violence. Ludwig, J. and Cook, PH, eds. Brookings Institution Press, © 2003.
Miller M., Azrael D., Hemenway D. (2000) Community firearms, community fear. Epidemiology, 11(6): 709-14.
http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/summaries/reader/0,2061,564439,00.html
