Assessing Concealed Carry Rates Among LGBT Americans, Before and After the Orlando Nightclub Shooting

• In Event: Firearms in Different Contexts

Abstract

This study seeks to identify whether concealed carry rates among people who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender (LGBT) have increased or decreased after the Orlando Nightclub shooting. Data was collected in the summer of 2012 by surveying people at the Twin Cities Pride Festival. A revised study surveyed respondents at the 2017 Twin Cities Pride Festival to see whether concealed carry rates changed, and assess why those changes might have occurred. The choice to acquire a concealed carry permit and to carry a firearm is a personal one, yet half as many LGBT people own firearms compared with heterosexual respondents according to the 2012 survey. Members of the LGBT community are known to be a vulnerable group, and as a result may value the benefits of concealed self-protection more than non-vulnerable groups. Hate crimes against the LGBT community are still a serious risk to the lives of LGBT Americans, and this may increase concealed carry rates.

Authors

• Dallas S Drake, Center for Homicide Research

• Jeffrey Mathwig, Center for Homicide Research