COLLECTIVE SECURITY AND THE OWNERSHIP OF FIREARMS FOR PROTECTION

In: Criminology: the official publication of the American Society of Criminology, Band 25, Heft 1, S. 47-62

Abstract

This paper examines the hypothesis that people purchase firearms for protection when confidence in collective institutions of justice and security declines. Analysis of survey data from Detroit indicates that gun ownership for protection is inversely related to confidence in the police and in the courts, and that these relationships are independent of demographic and socioeconomic variables and fear of crime.