Moshary et al. on Preferences for Firearms

Sarah Moshary, Bradley Shapiro, and Sara Drango (University of California, Berkeley - Marketing Group, University of Chicago - Booth School of Business and University of Chicago - Booth School of Business) have posted Preferences for Firearms on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

 

This paper provides a critical input into crafting effective firearms policy: an understanding of consumer demand for guns. We estimate individual-level price sensitivity and substitution patterns across gun types using stated choice experiments. We find that potential firearm buyers are price insensitive overall, but that first-time handgun buyers are the most price sensitive. We also estimate considerable substitution from semi-automatic long guns to handguns, which are associated with more crimes per gun. This finding suggests that firearm restrictions specifically targeting semi-automatic long guns would have minimal impact on gun ownership.