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74% of women think men have different mindsets around gun issues, Harvard/MarieClaire.com study finds

The feature takes an extensive look at how women feel about guns.

AUSTIN, TX - JANUARY 1: Two women compare handgun holsters during an open carry rally at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas. On January 1, 2016, the open carry law took effect in Texas, and 2nd Amendment activists held an open carry rally at the Texas state capitol on January 1, 2016 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Erich Schlegel/Getty Images)

By Kristin Toussaint @kristindakota

1 minute to read

As part of a new report titled “Women and Guns,’’ MarieClaire.com — in conjunction with the Harvard Injury Control Research Center — performed an exhaustive audit of female attitudes toward firearms in the U.S.

Surveys about gun ownership typically inquire only by household, not by individual. This means that if one person in a home owns a gun, his or her opinions represent those of everyone else in the home. MarieClaire.com wanted to hear the opinions of women who are often silenced by the household measurement.

Here are some of the study’s findings:

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• While 32 percent of women live in a household with a gun, only 12 percent of women own a gun themselves, the study found. That number echoes the gap in gun ownership by gender: Thirty-three percent of men overall own a gun.

• Men are more likely to carry their guns in public than female gun owners are: Twenty-three percent of gun-owning men had carried a loaded handgun in the last 30 days, compared to 15 percent of gun-owning women.

•The majority of women (74 percent) think that men and women have different mindsets around guns. Many of the women polled attributed this to how men are made to be more comfortable with guns from an early age, whether through toys or hunting trips, leaving women with less exposure, MarieClaire.com reported.

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• There are also differences in how men and women view gun laws: Sixty-two percent of women want stricter gun sale laws, versus 54 percent of men, according to the study. Almost half of all women polled reported an increase in negative feelings about guns after recent shootings, while only 33 percent of men shared the sentiment.

For the study, more than 5,000 adults across the country were polled in two online surveys. The first survey, conducted last April, included 2,294 males and 1,655 females, and the second, conducted in December, included 520 males and 497 females.

Get more statistics from the study here, and read MarieClaire.com’s full “Women and Guns’’ special report here.

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