Do people with guns sleep better or feel safer at night? Here’s what a study found

Gun owners don’t feel safer or sleep better at night, nor are they happier than people who don’t own guns, according to two studies headed by University of Arizona researcher Terrence Hill.

The first study analyzed data from the National Opinion Research Center’s General Social Survey to determine whether gun ownership had any impact on sleep disturbance and how safe people felt in their neighborhoods. Overall, it found that there was no relationship between those two factors and owning a gun when examining the data from 2010 to 2018.

The findings challenged the narrative “about how having a gun in the home helps individuals and their families to feel safe, secure, and protected,” Hill wrote in the study.

“Although being afraid to walk alone at night in one’s neighborhood is associated with restless sleep,” Hill wrote, “owning a gun is no consolation.”

More than 40 percent of Americans report living in a household where at least one gun is present, according to a 2019 survey from Gallup.

Another study analyzed data from the General Social Survey collected between 1973 and 2018. That research looked into whether there was a correlation between owning a gun and happiness.

It found that while gun owners originally reported higher levels of happiness, there wasn’t any link once researchers factored in marital status.

Gun owners only “appeared happier because they are more likely to be married, which increases happiness,” Hill wrote in the study.

“It’s possible that an individual can be comforted by their weapon and that their weapon can make them happier and less afraid,” Hill told WBTV, “but we’re finding that that’s not so common that it can be observable at a population level.”

“We’re not saying there’s anything wrong with guns,” he continued in an interview with the TV station. “We’re just saying that they may not be benefiting people’s personal lives in the way some people claim.”

This story was originally published February 5, 2020 at 10:44 AM with the headline "Do people with guns sleep better or feel safer at night? Here’s what a study found."