Modeling the U.S. Firearms Market: The Effects of Civilian Stocks, Legislation, and Crime

We estimate the first econometric model of the national civilian firearms market in the United States (1946–2016), where per capita firearms-related harm is exceptionally high. Solving simultaneous equation models instrumented by natural disasters and steel prices, and employing unique firearms pric...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Authors: McDougall, Topher L., Montolio, Daniel, Brauer, Jürgen
Format: article
Status:Versión aceptada para publicación
Publication Date:2023
Country:España
Institution:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repository:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2445/217139
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/217139
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Indústria manufacturera
Models economètrics
Armes de foc
Delinqüència
Manufacturing industries
Econometric models
Firearms
Crime
Description
Summary:We estimate the first econometric model of the national civilian firearms market in the United States (1946–2016), where per capita firearms-related harm is exceptionally high. Solving simultaneous equation models instrumented by natural disasters and steel prices, and employing unique firearms prices and quantities data, we find this market operates normally, except that firearms stocks may generate some new market demand in a positive feedback loop. Save for the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (1994–2004), federal firearms legislation does not influence firearms sales. We find that violent crime, including homicide and mass shootings, boosts domestic sales.