Firearm Availability, Homicide, and the Context of Structural Disadvantage

• Author: Daniel C. Semenza,Richard Stansfield,Trent Steidley,Ashley M. Mancik
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10887679211043806
• Published date: 01 May 2023
• Date: 01 May 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/10887679211043806

Homicide Studies

2023, Vol. 27(2) 208 –228

© 2021 SAGE Publications

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DOI: 10.1177/10887679211043806

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Article

Firearm Availability,

Homicide, and the Context

of Structural Disadvantage

Daniel C. Semenza1, Richard Stansfield1,

Trent Steidley2, and Ashley M. Mancik3

Abstract

This study examines how legal and illegal firearm availability correspond to subsequent

rates of firearm and non-firearm homicide in 226 U.S. cities from 2010 through 2017.

We also assess how city-level economic disadvantage conditions this relationship.

Results show that greater availability of illegal guns corresponds to future rates

of firearm homicide while the rate of legal firearms dealers does not significantly

influence firearm homicide. The association between firearm availability and homicide

is conditional upon level of structural economic disadvantage. Our findings support

efforts to decrease access to illegal firearms to reduce gun violence, especially among

vulnerable and disadvantaged communities.

Keywords

gun violence, homicide, gun markets, structural disadvantage

Every year, assaultive gun violence claims the lives of tens of thousands of people in

the United States (U.S.) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020a;

Thompson, 2021). Although Americans are not uniquely aggressive (Zimring &

Hawkins, 1999), violence is far more likely to end in death in the U.S. than in other

peer industrialized nations around the world (Miller et al., 2013). The availability of

firearms has been cited as a major reason for America’s uniquely lethal brand of

violence, contributing to a firearm homicide rate approximately 24 times higher

than comparable high-income nations (Grinshteyn & Hemenway, 2016). Despite

1Rutgers University, Camden, NJ, USA

2University of Denver, Denver, CO, USA

3University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

Corresponding Author:

Daniel Semenza, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, 405-7

Cooper Street, Camden, NJ 08102, USA.

Email: Daniel.semenza@rutgers.edu

1043806HSXXXX10.1177/10887679211043806Homicide StudiesSemenza et al.

research-article2021

Semenza et al. 209

exceptionally high rates of gun ownership and firearm homicide in the U.S., however,

it remains uncertain how different types of firearm availability influence rates of gun

violence across cities. In particular, it is unclear how the availability of guns from

federally licensed firearm dealers (FFLs) compared to illicit channels impacts homi-

cide risk. Furthermore, knowledge is limited regarding how the dynamics of firearm

availability and homicide operate in different types of cities, especially those suffering

from greater structural economic disadvantage.

Prior research has explored the effects of gun availability on violent crime, yet the

literature remains limited in three notable ways. First, most studies that examine the

influence of gun availability on violent crime leverage broad measures of availability

or examine legal and illegal availability separately. Although researchers have found

that greater legal availability of firearms through FFLs heightens risk for gun violence

in major cities (Semenza, Stansfield, & Link, 2020; Steidley, Ramey, & Shrider, 2017;

Wiebe et al., 2009), others have shown that the availability of illegal firearms increases

the risk of gun violence in the community (Dierenfeldt et al., 2017; Stansfield,

Semenza, & Steidley, 2021; Stolzenberg & D’Alessio, 2000; Yu et al., 2020). Only one

study to our knowledge has assessed the concurrent influence of both illegal and legal

gun availability on firearm homicide rates, specifically across counties in South

Carolina (Stolzenberg & D’Alessio, 2000). Second, significant data limitations have

made it difficult to generate reliable and validated measures of gun availability (Kleck,

2015). Studies have used broad proxies of gun availability, yet in almost all cases

researchers have not made a distinction between legal and illegal types of access.

Finally, research on community firearm availability has been limited in geographic

scope. Although select studies have drawn on national samples to examine the influ-

ence of availability on violence (Dierenfeldt et al., 2017; Steidley et al., 2017; Wiebe

et al., 2009), most have relied on samples from a single state (Stolzenberg & D’Alessio,

2000) or city (Cook et al., 2015; Hureau & Braga, 2018; McDowall, 1991; Yu et al.,

2020). While these studies provide crucial information on the workings of gun markets

in those areas, it remains difficult to draw broader conclusions about the influence of

various types of gun availability on homicide rates.

Taken together, notable issues of measurement and generalizability have hampered

a comprehensive understanding of how gun availability impacts violent crime and

homicide in the U.S. To address these limitations, we leverage a unique dataset of

American cities from 2010 to 2017 to examine how both legal and illegal firearm

availability influence rates of homicide over time. We also assess how the economic

context of cities moderates the dynamics of gun availability and firearm violence.

Based on the results, we discuss implications for gun violence prevention strategies, as

well as opportunities for future research on the causes and consequences of gun vio-

lence in American communities.

Why Should Firearm Availability Influence Violent

Crime?

Two prevailing perspectives explain why firearm availability should influence pat-

terns of violent crime. The first posits that greater firearm availability will increase