Do Canadian and U.S. American handgun owners differ?

This study of male Canadian (n = 475) and U.S. (n = 425) handgun owners addresses 2 questions: (a) Are there differences in gun-related motivation and behaviour patterns; and (b) does the Model of Defensive Gun Ownership of Stroebe, Leander, and Kruglanski (2017) fit data of Canadian handgun gun owners? U.S. and Canadian gun cultures are supposed to be different: Unlike most U.S. gun owners, Canadian gun owners are not assumed to purchase guns for self-defense because they trust their government to protect them against crime. Although Canadian and U.S. handgun owners differed in their gun-related motivation and behaviour patterns, these differences were less substantial than expected: Mean levels of trust in law enforcement of Canadian and U.S. handgun owners did not differ. Furthermore, half of Canadian gun owners considered self-defense to be an important reason for gun ownership. Finally, a structural equation model that had fit the U.S. data of Stroebe et al. (2017) could also be applied to the Canadian data. Given that 30% of all Canadian handguns were purchased between 2012 and 2017, which is when shootings became more common in Canada’s large cities, we speculate that recent events may have reduced differences that might have existed between Canadian and American handgun owners