"Gasoline on a Fire That Was Already Burning": Black Americans' Reasons for Acquiring Firearms in the Early Pandemic Era.

From 2020 to 2021, approximately 5.1 million Americans became first-time firearm owners. Among new firearm owners, 21% identified as non-Hispanic and Black, compared to 9% of those whose most recent firearm purchase was before 2019. Given the association between firearm access and risk of firearm injury and death, increases in ownership among specific populations have important public health implications. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore reasons for firearm acquisition among Black Americans during the early pandemic era. We enrolled 32 Black adults who acquired firearms from 2020-2022, conducted semi-structured interviews, and analyzed data with a thematic analysis approach grounded in a constructionist paradigm. Our analysis revealed that complex stressors often drove firearm acquisition in this time period. We found that the pandemic generated instability and intensified extant social problems. These issues were intertwined with heightened political polarization. Racialized rhetoric among political leaders intensified. With these tensions, experiences of interpersonal racism increased as participants moved through their everyday lives. Relations further deteriorated as norms eroded. Participants also described perceptions of heighted crime and injustices in policing, including a lack of responsive policing, which amplified safety concerns and their beliefs about the potential utility of keeping firearms for protection. News media shaped violence exposure, and, for some, may have affirmed their feelings of unease. For many participants, firearm acquisition was a method of exerting agency amid overwhelming uncertainty. However, several identified tradeoffs, doubt, and unresolved vulnerability after acquiring firearms.