Misattribution of Gun Ownership Survey

2018-08-19

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The gun ownership survey I used in some graphics like these was mislabeled:

What's Wrong

The numbers are correct, but everything else is wrong:

• The source is the well-known CDC BRFSS, not USA Carry, the gun rights organization.
• The year is 2001, not 2012.
• The measure is "percent living in households with guns", not "percent of households with guns".

How It Happened

Back in 2012 or so, when I was first collecting state-level crime information, I picked up the data secondhand, from some stats aggregator site, which incorrectly labeled it. USA Carry publishes various state-by-state gun information, which is probably how it got scraped. I noticed the error later when collecting more gun data for use on the site.

It turns out there are few surveys of state gun ownership, and this one has gotten used in many places.

Prevention

In putting together the site, I've gotten stricter about sourcing and labeling. Things casually cited in forum posts might not suffice for an article. Data not from an original source or reliable party (e.g. news article) will be rejected or, if it must be used, will be labled as questionable.