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Characteristics of Federally Licensed Firearms Retailers and Retail Establishments in the United States: Initial Findings from the Firearms Licensee Survey

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Abstract

Firearms have widely supported legitimate purposes but are also frequently used in violent crimes. Owners and senior executives of federally licensed firearms dealers and pawnbrokers are a potentially valuable source of information on retail commerce in firearms, links between legal and illegal commerce, and policies designed to prevent the firearms they sell from being used in crimes. To our knowledge, there has been no prior effort to gather such information. In 2011, we conducted the Firearms Licensee Survey on a probability sample of 1,601 licensed dealers and pawnbrokers in the United States believed to sell 50 or more firearms per year. This article presents details of the design and execution of the survey and describes the characteristics of the respondents and their business establishments. The survey was conducted by mail, using methods developed by Dillman and others. Our response rate was 36.9 % (591 respondents), similar to that for other establishment surveys using similar methods. Respondents had a median age of 54; 89 % were male, 97.6 % were White, and 98.1 % were non-Hispanic. Those who held licenses under their own names had been licensed for a median of 18 years. A large majority of 96.3 % agreed that “private ownership of guns is essential for a free society”; just over half (54.9 %) believed that “it is too easy for criminals to get guns in this country.” A match between the job and a personal interest in the shooting sports was the highest-ranking reason for working as a firearms retailer; the highest-ranking concerns were that “there are too many ‘gun control’ regulations” and that “the government might confiscate my guns.” Most respondents (64.3 %) were gun dealers, with significant variation by region. Residential dealers accounted for 25.6 % of all dealers in the Midwest. Median annual sales volume was 200 firearms for both dealers and pawnbrokers. Dealers appeared more likely than pawnbrokers to specialize; they were more likely to rank in the highest or lowest quartile on sales of handguns, inexpensive handguns, and tactical rifles. Sales of inexpensive handguns and sales to women were more common among pawnbrokers. Internet sales were reported by 28.3 % of respondents and sales at gun shows by 14.3 %. A median of 1 % of sales were denied after purchasers failed background checks; firearm trace requests equaled <1 % of annual sales. Trace frequency was directly associated with the percentage of firearm sales involving handguns, inexpensive handguns, and sales to women. Frequency of denied sales was strongly and directly associated with frequency of trace requests (p < 0.0001). These results are based on self-report but are consistent with those from studies using objective data.

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Acknowledgments

We are especially grateful to the retailers who participated in the survey, many of whom provided additional helpful comments. Barbara Claire, Vanessa McHenry, and Mona Wright provided expert technical assistance throughout the project. Dr. Tom Smith served as a consultant for the development of the survey questionnaire and gave extensive input. Jeri Bonavia, Kristen Rand, and Josh Sugarmann provided helpful reviews of a draft questionnaire.

Project support

This project was supported in part by a grant from The California Wellness Foundation. Initial planning was also supported in part by a grant from the Joyce Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Susan P. Baker-Stephen P. Teret Chair in Violence Prevention, Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA

    Garen J. Wintemute

  2. Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA

    Garen J. Wintemute

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  1. Garen J. Wintemute
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Correspondence to Garen J. Wintemute.

Additional information

Submitted to the Journal of Urban Health on May 22, 2012.

Appendix: Supplemental Tables and Figures

Appendix: Supplemental Tables and Figures

Table 3 Personal and establishment characteristics by business structure
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Table 4 Relationship between frequency of firearm trace requests and characteristics of firearm sales
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Figure 3.
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General attitudes towards firearms by age.

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Figure 4.
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General attitudes towards firearms by sex.

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Figure 5.
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General attitudes towards firearms by licensee business structure.

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Figure 6.
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Reasons for and concerns about working in the firearms industry by age.

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Figure 7.
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Reasons for and concerns about working in the firearms industry by sex.

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Figure 8.
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Reasons for and concerns about working in the firearms industry by licensee type.

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Figure 9.
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Reasons for and concerns about working in the firearms industry by licensee business structure.

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Wintemute, G.J. Characteristics of Federally Licensed Firearms Retailers and Retail Establishments in the United States: Initial Findings from the Firearms Licensee Survey. J Urban Health 90, 1–26 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-012-9754-y

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