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Editor's Pick Original Investigation

Guns and Perceptions of Safety Among US Women

JAMA Network Open 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.25985

July 31, 2026 at 11:00 AM EDT

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In this survey study of US women, more than half of overall respondents perceived they would not feel safer with greater exposure to firearms, although results varied by personal gun ownership. As gun ownership diversifies, these findings highlight the importance of attending to perceptions of safety in discussions of interventions to reduce gun violence.

Related Commentary:

This Original Investigation is accompanied by an Invited Commentary.

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The 2025 JAMA Summit Report on Reducing Firearm Violence and Harms

Corresponding Author: Cassandra K. Crifasi, PhD, MPH, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 750 E Pratt St, 15th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202 (crifasi@jhu.edu).

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