ArticleJMIR public health and surveillance2020
Collateral Crises of Gun Preparation and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Infodemiology Study.
Article in JMIR public health and surveillance, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- How advocacy groups on Twitter and media coverage can drive US firearm acquisition: A causal study.PNAS nexus · 2025Article
- Longitudinal Analysis of Obesity Drug Use and Public Awareness.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- COVID-19: A national rise in penetrating trauma cared for by a prepared trauma system.Surgery open science · 2024Article
- Development and Assessment of a Social Media-Based Construct of Firearm Ownership: Computational Derivation and Benchmark Comparison.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Changes in adult trauma at a level 1 trauma center before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.JEM reports · 2023Article
- The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on community violence in Connecticut.American journal of surgery · 2023Article
- Impact of easing COVID-19 safety measures on trauma computed tomography imaging volumes.Emergency radiology · 2023Article
- Voluntary, temporary out-of-home firearm storage: A survey of firearm retailers and ranges in two states.Preventive medicine · 2022Article
- Pediatric firearm and motor vehicle collision injuries in the United States: Diverging trends.The American journal of emergency medicine · 2022Article
- Examining trends in gun violence injuries before and during the COVID-19 pandemic across six trauma centers.Trauma surgery & acute care open · 2022Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Trauma Service Utilization at a New York City Level I Trauma Center.Pragmatic and observational research · 2022Article
- Increase in gunshot wounds at a level 1 trauma center following the COVID19 pandemic.OTA international : the open access journal of orthopaedic trauma · 2021Article
- Modeling recent gun purchases: A social epidemiology of the pandemic arms race.Preventive medicine reports · 2021Article
- Frequency of Firearm Injuries to Head and Neck Increased During Covid-19 Pandemic.Journal of oral and maxillofacial surgery : official journal of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons · 2021Article
- A Dual Pandemic: The Influence of Coronavirus Disease 2019 on Trends and Types of Firearm Violence in California, Ohio, and the United States.The Journal of surgical research · 2021Article
- The Popularity of the Biologically-Based Therapies During Coronavirus Pandemic Among the Google Users in the USA, UK, Germany, Italy and France.Complementary therapies in medicine · 2021Article
- Multicenter study of US trauma centers examining the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on injury causes, diagnoses and procedures.Trauma surgery & acute care open · 2021Article
- Internet search patterns reveal firearm sales, policies, and deaths.NPJ digital medicine · 2020Article
- Quantifying Public Interest in Police Reforms by Mining Internet Search Data Following George Floyd's Death.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn the past, national emergencies in the United States have resulted in increased gun preparation (ie, purchasing new guns or removing guns from storage); in turn, these gun actions have effected increases in firearm injuries and deaths.
objectiveThe aim of this paper was to assess the extent to which interest in gun preparation has increased amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic using data from Google searches related to purchasing and cleaning guns.
methodsWe fit an Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model over Google search data from January 2004 up to the week that US President Donald Trump declared COVID-19 a national emergency. We used this model to forecast Google search volumes, creating a counterfactual of the number of gun preparation searches we would expect if the COVID-19 pandemic had not occurred, and reported observed deviations from this counterfactual.
resultsGoogle searches related to preparing guns have surged to unprecedented levels, approximately 40% higher than previously reported spikes following the Sandy Hook, CT and Parkland, FL shootings and 158% (95% CI 73-270) greater than would be expected if the COVID-19 pandemic had not occurred. In absolute terms, approximately 2.1 million searches related to gun preparation were performed over just 34 days. States severely affected by COVID-19 appear to have some of the greatest increases in the number of searches.
conclusionsOur results corroborate media reports that gun purchases are increasing amid the COVID-19 pandemic and provide more precise geographic and temporal trends. Policy makers should invest in disseminating evidence-based educational tools about gun risks and safety procedures to avert a collateral public health crisis.
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