High Rate of Mental Health Problems and Political Extremism Found in Those Who Bought Firearms During COVID Pandemic

The analysis of survey data separated the respondents into three groups: 103 pandemic firearm buyers (regardless of whether or not they had owned firearms before their pandemic firearm purchase), 170 firearm owners who did not purchase a firearm during the pandemic and 763 people who do not own a firearm.

Key areas where pandemic firearm buyers differed strongly from people who don’t own a firearm and firearm owners who did not buy a gun during the pandemic:

·  Pandemic firearm buyers were much younger than both groups; over half were in their 30s, and 70% were under age 40. Pandemic firearm buyers were also more likely to be male (70%) and White (91%) than people who did not own a firearm (45% male, 72% white).

·  Fifty-five percent of pandemic firearm buyers had thoughts of suicide in the past two weeks compared to 10% of pre-pandemic firearm owners and 6% of people who did not own a firearm. Also, 64% of pandemic firearm owners reported self-harm by cutting or burning themselves on purpose in the last two weeks, compared to 4% of the other two groups.

·  56% of pandemic firearm buyers reported that they occasionally or frequently push, shove, slap, hit or punch their romantic partner, compared to less than 2% of people who do not own a firearm or pre-pandemic firearm owners.

·  Pandemic firearm buyers reported much higher levels of mental health symptoms including depression, anxiety, alcohol use problems, nicotine use and antisocial behavior than people who did not own a firearm, and pre-pandemic firearm owners.

·  Pandemic firearm buyers were more likely to endorse QAnon conspiracies, Christian nationalistic beliefs, and pro-gun attitudes than people who did not own a firearm and pre-pandemic firearm owners. For instance, 76% of pandemic gun buyers, compared with 15% of both other groups, agreed with the Qanon statement that “the government, media, and financial worlds in the U.S. are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation.”

·  Pandemic firearm buyers were nearly three times more likely than pre-pandemic firearm owners (74% vs 26%) to report that they carried a firearm outside their home, and nearly twice as likely to have obtained a state-issued permit to carry a firearm in public (81% vs. 47%).

Hicks and his co-authors note that not all pandemic firearm buyers were this different from the other groups regarding risk factors or beliefs.

This suggests a need to delve further into this population with larger sample sizes, and to develop public health messaging around suicide and violence prevention aimed at those with the highest risks.

Hicks, who has conducted multiple waves of the COVID-19 Adjustment and Behavior Survey, was recently awarded funding from the National Institutes of Health to conduct more representative and in-depth studies.

One study involves testing gun violence prevention messages designed to reach higher-risk groups in Michigan, whose legislature passed a slate of firearm injury prevention laws following a mass shooting on the Michigan State University campus.

Even though suicide rates nationwide have held relatively steady since the pandemic, the long-term risk of suicide among those who are younger and have more mental health, substance use, and aggression concerns is very real.

Meanwhile, the rise in homicides, which was especially prominent in 2020 and 2021, means it is important to look more deeply at the possible role of pandemic-related firearm purchasing or acquisition in these deaths.

“Firearm owners are a diverse group, but it is especially pertinent that purchasing a gun during the COVID-19 pandemic was so effective at identifying a group of gun owners with such elevated levels of risk factors for violence and self-harm,” said Hicks.

“The societal effects of COVID, especially the first two years, were tremendously unsettling to many people. Combined with the social and political upheaval around the 2020 election, and the ability to self-select news and information sources that funnel people toward more extreme content, this appears to have spurred some high-risk individuals to take steps they felt would improve their security by buying firearms.”