NCJ Number
203744
Journal
Journal of Quantitative Criminology Volume: 19 Issue: 4 Dated: December 2003 Pages: 441-445
Date Published
December 2003
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article discusses whether gun-carrying and permit holding are accurately reported by concealed-carry permit holders.
Abstract
Scholars have been concerned about reports of household gun ownership and who accurately reports this. Since such research is often used to illuminate public policy debates over gun and crime control, this research on firearms has practical implications. This study extended the methodological research on the accuracy of reports of firearm use by looking at gun carrying and the holding of concealed-only permits. In this pilot study a seeded sample of concealed-carry permit holders was added to the 2001 National Gun Policy Survey, which focused on concealed-carry attitudes and behaviors. Twenty-one States were identified that issued concealed-carry permits and made their lists of permit holders publicly available. To facilitate the acquiring and use of these lists, priority was given to States that had lists that were state-wide, in electronic form, and contained both the name and address of the permit holder. Then 900 cases were randomly selected from the list of permit holders with phone numbers. The results indicated that gun-carrying and permit holding was accurately reported by concealed-carry permit holders. This is consistent with the findings of past validation studies of gun ownership. The similarity in gun uses across the seeded and cross-section samples indicates that both collect consistent data. This suggests that sufficiently accurate information can be collected on gun use to allow reliable scientific analysis and to inform public policy debates related to gun and crime control. 1 table, 2 footnotes, 17 references