We describe patterns of licit handgun acquisitions before (Januray 2017–February 2020) and during (March 2020–September 2021) the COVID-19 pandemic using administrative records from California. Handgun acquisitions doubled soon after the pandemic began, returning to near pre-pandemic levels over 19 months. The increase in handgun acquisitions was largely attributable to first-time acquirers, raising overall handgun ownership by 19%. The largest percentage increases in first-time handgun acquisition occurred among women and racial and ethnic minorities—for example, first-time acquisitions among Black women increased 350 %. Yet, the overall demographic composition of California’s handgun owners changed little, because White men continued to dominate handgun acquisition and ownership throughout the pandemic.

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) and firearm violence threaten women’s health and safety in the United States. Despite the magnitude of female homicides and mass shootings resulting from IPV-related firearm incidents, research in this critical area remains limited. A retrospective review of prospectively collected data using the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) Firearm Injury Surveillance Study from 1993 through 2019 was performed. The study focused on firearm shooting injuries seen in US Emergency Departments (ED) during assaults, excluding unintentional injuries, suicide attempts, or law enforcement activity. The demographics and injury patterns of IPV and non-IPV groups were compared using statistical methods accounting for the weighted, stratified nature of the data. Over the 27-year period from 1993 through 2019, there were 60,730 ED visits for firearm injuries (limited to assaults when shot by the firearm for those 10 years or older) for an estimated 1,564,078 visits. IPV represented 0.9% (137,740 of the 1,564,078) estimated firearm-related injuries. IPV patients were more likely to be older (39.3 vs 27.7 years; p < 0.0001), female (59.0% vs 11.3%; p < 0.0001), white (62.5% vs 19.5%; p < 0.0001), occurred at home (67.1% vs 13.8%; p < 0.0001), sustained head and neck injuries (30.2% vs 15.0%; p = 0.0056) and with a higher mortality (12.3% vs 6.6%; p < 0.01) compared with non-IPV patients. Female IPV patients had more head and neck injuries (37.2% vs 20.2%; p = 0.03) than male patients. The average age of IPV patients when the perpetrator was an ex-boyfriend/girlfriend was lower (25.8 years) than when the perpetrator was a spouse (40.6 years) or ex-spouse (37.7 years) (p < 0.0001). One-third of the IPV patients were not married or did not report their marital status, supporting firearm restrictions for those already convicted of domestic violence offenses from a public health viewpoint. The study highlights the urgent need for interventions to reduce IPV-related firearm injuries, given the deliberate targeting of head and neck regions in female IPV patients and the high fatality rates observed in IPV patients presenting to ED.

Abstract
For a paper that has not yet been through peer review or even been formally published, William English’s “2021 National Firearms Survey” has been remarkably prominent in gun rights advocacy and scholarship. As of December 2024, it has been cited in roughly sixty-five briefs, invoked at oral argument in the Supreme Court and multiple courts of appeals, and regularly cited in public writings and published academic work.

This response is offered in the spirit of a peer review. Our focus is on methodological issues, questionable statistical results, and problematic conclusions. Because of serious methodological issues, English’s draft fails to provide a reliable estimate of the number of annual defensive gun uses, the stock of AR-15s, or the actual protective value of or frequency with which AR-15 type firearms have been used. The paper should not be used as an authoritative source.
This version of our paper has been updated to account for the response that Prof. English posted on October 23, 2024.