Measuring the Market for Legal Firearms

Luis Armona and Adam M. Rosenberg

AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2024, vol. 114, 52-57

Abstract: The Massachusetts Firearms Records Bureau recently published administrative data covering the universe of legal firearm transactions in the state. We use these data to validate state-level background checks as a proxy for firearm transactions and show that historical trends in transactions within Massachusetts align with the rest of the United States. Using auxiliary data from a national survey, we show that the Massachusetts dataset can detect patterns in the demographics of both gun ownership and type of firearm purchased. Our analysis suggests that this dataset is a promising source of information for studying interactions in the market for legal firearms.

JEL-codes: C83 D12 L64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20241082

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