How Many Doctors Own Guns?

Author: Guglielmo, W. J. / .
Publication: Medical Economics
Topics: Gender Ownership Self-defense Gun Use/Deterrence
Keywords: Firearms PHYSICIANS hunting polls and surveys self defense
Bibliographic information +

This study, a survey assessing ownership of guns by doctors, revealed that nearly one-third of the physicians who participated in the survey owned a gun. Male doctors were more than twice as likely as female doctors to own a firearm (36% versus 17%). Among gun-owning female physicians, over half reported that they use their weapons for self-defense. Unlike the females, nearly half of all gun-owning male doctors said they used their weapons to hunt. According to the author, the findings suggest that doctors’ political beliefs significantly influence whether they own guns, as conservative physicians were nearly nine times more likely to own guns than doctors who identified themselves as liberal.