Much of the research on firearm owners implies that the U.S. population can be divided into two groups—those that own guns and those that do not; however, there is a third group—those thinking of getting a gun and almost nothing is known about this group. A survey on gun ownership, experiences, and behaviors was deployed online via Prolific in June and July 2020 to recruit women from the general U.S. population who were planning on getting a gun (n = 187), who owned a gun (n = 288) and who did not own or plan to own guns (n = 968). Results show that women planning on getting a gun worried more about their personal safety and more had experienced recent interpersonal violence victimization compared to the other two groups. Almost all of the women planning on getting a gun believed that carrying a gun would make them safer. Even though women planning on getting a gun had limited experience with guns, they expressed fewer gun related worries than nongun owners. Additionally, women planning on getting a gun had more depression symptoms and more of them indicated they had thoughts of self-harm in the past two weeks than current gun owners. Depression symptoms were significantly associated with plans to get a gun in the multivariate model. Given the risks associated with having firearms in the household, interventions could target those considering getting a gun as well as educating friends and family about what to say when someone close is considering obtaining a firearm for safety.

许多关于枪支拥有者的研究表明，美国人口可以分为两组——拥有枪支的和不拥有枪支的；然而，还有第三类人——那些想买枪的人，但对这个群体几乎一无所知。2020 年 6 月和 2020 年 7 月，通过 Prolific 在线部署了一项关于枪支所有权、经历和行为的调查，以从美国普通人群中招募计划获得枪支 ( n = 187)、拥有枪支 ( n = 288)的女性谁不拥有或不打算拥有枪支（n= 968）。结果表明，与其他两组相比，计划获得枪支的女性更担心自己的人身安全，并且更多地经历过最近的人际暴力受害。几乎所有打算买枪的女性都认为，带枪会让她们更安全。尽管计划获得枪支的女性使用枪支的经验有限，但与非枪支拥有者相比，她们表达的与枪支有关的担忧更少。此外，与现在的枪支拥有者相比，计划购买枪支的女性有更多的抑郁症状，其中更多人表示在过去两周内有自残的念头。在多元模型中，抑郁症状与购买枪支的计划显着相关。鉴于在家中拥有枪支的相关风险，