Study: 3 million Americans carry a loaded gun every day

By Brian Seay

Rick Ector with his Smith & Wesson 9mm at a Detroit gas station in 2012. (Photo: Carlos Osorio/Associated Press)
An estimated 3 million Americans carry a loaded handgun on their person every day, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health.
Researchers from the University of Washington, Harvard University and the University of Colorado conducted the National Firearms Survey in 2015. Of the 4,000 U.S. adults who participated in the online survey, 1,500 of them were handgun owners. They were asked how often they carried a loaded handgun when they were out of their homes.
The objectives of the study were to “determine the frequency of loaded handgun carrying among US adult handgun owners, characterize those who carry, and examine concealed carrying by state concealed carry laws.”
In addition to the 3 million who carry daily, researchers found that 9 million Americans carry a gun once a month. People in that category were disproportionately likely to be conservative men ranging in age from 18 to 29 and living the south.
Four out of five of those who carried said protection was the main reason they armed themselves. About 6 percent said they’d been threatened by someone with a gun

Source: Guns.com