Gun ownership has been mentioned in the context of situational crime prevention for some time. Empirical research, however, has provided rather weak and inconsistent support for increased gun control efforts.2 One reason may be that it has focused on cross-sectional analyzes within the United States. Unis3 or on evaluations over time of specific gun control measures in certain states. or counties.4 The difficulty with such research designs is that neither strict gun control nor the adoption of a new law in some states necessarily affects the number of guns in the hands of citizens, since weapons continue to be sold to neighboring states in most cases. This is well illustrated by the limited variation in the prevalence of gun ownership between regions of the United States: 29% of households in the East, 44% in the West, 46% in the Midwest, and 54% in the West. % in the South.5 Therefore, changes in the proportion of gun control policies at the state level may not affect gun availability or violent crime rates. Gun ownership rates tend to vary much more between countries than within countries. However, international research has received relatively little attention....