Gun Laws can Indirectly Change Gun Availability

Researchers specializing in gun policy often measure the effect of a given policy using a standard difference-in-difference approach. We highlight a potential concern with this method which complicates the identification of a causal relationship: gun access potentially changes with legislation. With an event study approach, we show that introducing “Stand-Your-Ground” (SYG) laws significantly increases gun access. Our gun access measure is based on gun dealer counts. We demonstrate that the relationship between gun access and SYG is due to something other than business trends or population. We also show that urban counties drive the effect. Finally, SYG does not affect the proportion of gun suicides. Our results suggest that estimates of legislation’s effects also capture the impact of changes in gun access