ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that research on gun carrying in public places, and reports findings from a national survey on the prevalence and incidence of carrying among adults, and on the kinds of people who carry guns for personal protection. Carrying guns in public places is common in the United States, and is primarily done for protection and rarely for purposes of committing a violent crime. Controlling for gun ownership, gun carrying for protection is more common among males, blacks, residents of the South and West regions, and persons who have a gun-related occupation such as police officer or security guard. The National Self-Defense Survey indicated that 26.8% of 2.5 million annual defensive gun uses occurred in a location away from the user's home, and another 35.9% occurred in places near the defender's home where possession of the gun could be regarded in legal terms as "carrying.".
