California Safety and Wellbeing Survey

In 2018, UCFC fielded a first-of-its-kind survey covering a wide range of topics related to firearm ownership, preferences, and practices, and exposure to violence and its consequences in California. This kind of information has not been collected in the state since the 1970s. More than 2,500 California adults responded to the survey and their answers have been weighted to be statistically representative of the adult population of the state.

Below you will find links to the survey findings in peer-reviewed academic journals, as well as corresponding two-page fact sheets. Feel free to download or print these fact sheets for use in your own work.

Firearm Ownership and Acquisition in California: Findings from the 2018 California Safety and Wellbeing Survey

We asked Californians if they owned firearms and when, where, and how they got them. An estimated 4.2 million California adults personally own a gun, and an additional 3.1 million live in a home with someone else who does.

View a summary of the results here. 

Read the complete study in Injury Prevention (December 2019).

California Public Opinion On Health Professionals Talking With Patients About Firearms

We asked Californians how appropriate it is for doctors and other health professionals to talk with their patients about gun safety under a variety of circumstances.

View a summary of the results here. 

Read the complete study in Health Affairs (October 2019).

Firearm Ownership in California: A Latent Class Analysis

We asked people who owned firearms about the types of guns they own, why they own them, and how they store them. Using a statistical technique called Latent Class Analysis, we identified five classes of firearm ownership in California differentiated by these gun ownership-related characteristics.

View a summary of the results here. 

Read the complete study in Injury Prevention (October 2019).

Public Opinion On Firearm Injury Prevention Proposals in California

We asked Californians whether they supported or opposed two firearm policy proposals.

View a summary of the results here. 

Read the complete study in JAMA Open Network (January 2020).

Firearm Ownership Among LGBT Adults in California

This study presents results from the first, detailed state-specific examination of firearm ownership among LGBT adult residents of California.

View a summary of the results here. 

Read the complete study in Violence and Gender (September 2020).

Additional CSaWS Papers

Schleimer J, Wintemute G, Kravitz-Wirtz N. “Firearm Ownership and Perceived Risk of Personal Firearm Injury.” Injury Prevention. Published Online First: 03 September 2020. doi: 10.1136/injuryprev-2020-043869.

Schleimer J, Pallin R, Wintemute G, Charbonneau A, Kravitz-Wirtz N. 2020. “Patterns of Firearm Ownership and Opinions on Firearm Policies Among Adults in California.” JAMA Network Open 3(7):e2012096. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.12096.