Confidence in the ability of the police and the community to provide protection of life and property is the major element of a model which compares the number of licenses issued per 100,000 population to purchase handguns in Detroit with three determinants of collective security: violent crime rates; numbers of uniformed police officers per 100,000 residents; and the 1967 riot. Other variables examined are the percentage of Detroit's nonwhite population, residents under 35 years, and personal income for the State of Michigan. Detroiters purchased more handguns when violent crime and civil disorders reduced confidence in collective security and fewer when these conditions abated. Furthermore, they responded to variations in police strength, buying fewer handguns when it rose and more when it fell. A policy of limiting handgun sales is more attractive than increasing expenditures on police or reducing poverty, but study findings indicate that such policies will be strenuously resisted and circumvented unless people feel safe without handguns. Tables and approximately 40 references are provided.