A new safety report released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows that firearms continue to increase in popularity as a safety measure in the profession.
The report shows that 19 percent of realtors (25 percent of men and 12 percent of women) carry a firearm for self-defense. A blog post at Gun Watch points out that 12 percent of realtors reported carrying a gun in 2015 (when the NAR first began reporting this information) and that 16 percent did so in 2016. The high-profile kidnapping and murder of real estate agent Beverly Carter in 2014 likely contributed to the profession’s heightened concern with self-defense.
We noticed that, comparing this year’s figures to the 2016 report, the higher use of firearms is matched by a dip in the percentage of realtors who reported carrying pepper spray or pocketknives for defensive purposes. This might indicate a growing recognition among real estate professionals that in a life-or-death situation, a firearm is the only thing you can really count on.
