Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 8, 2025

Virtual Hand with Ambiguous Movement between the Self and Other Origin: Sense of Ownership and 'Other-Produced' Agency
Published on: October 28, 2020
Patterns of handgun divestment among handgun owners in California
Sonja A Swanson1, Matthew Miller2, Yifan Zhang3
1Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus University Medical Center, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. s.swanson@erasmusmc.nl.
Background:
Little is known about voluntary divestment of firearms among US firearm owners. Here, we aim to estimate the proportion of handgun owners who divest their handguns in the years following their initial acquisition; examine the timing, duration, and dynamics of those divestments; and describe characteristics of those who divest.
Methods:
We use data from the Longitudinal Study of Handgun Ownership and Transfer, a cohort of registered voters in California with detailed information on 626,756 adults who became handgun owners during the 12-year study period, 2004-2016. For the current study, persons were followed from the time of their initial handgun acquisition until divestment, loss to follow-up, death, or the end of the study period. We describe the cumulative proportion who divest overall and by personal and area-level characteristics. We also estimate the proportion who reacquired handguns among persons who divested.
Results:
Overall, 4.5% (95% CI 4.5-4.6) of handgun owners divested within 5 years of their first acquisition, with divestment relatively more common among women and among younger adults. Among those who divested, 36.6% (95% CI 35.8-37.5) reacquired a handgun within 5 years.
Conclusions:
Handgun divestment is rare, with the vast majority of new handgun owners retaining them for years.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Discharge Summary Forms
Here's a detailed look at the key components and guidelines for preparing a discharge summary:
Deindividuation
Hand hygiene
Hand washing...
PPE Use in Healthcare Settings II: Doffing
Survey Safety
Conservation of Declining Populations

