Clinging to Guns and Religion? A Research Note Testing the Role of Protestantism in Shaping Gun Identity in the United States

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Abigail Vegter ◽  
Kevin R. den Dulk
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Research Note ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Gun Ownership ◽  
Gun Policy

Abstract How does social identity shape Protestant attitudes about guns in the United States? Numerous studies show that religion shapes attitudes about guns, but the role of Protestantism in forming those attitudes is undertheorized and undertested. We draw from the extensive literature on religion-as-identity and the burgeoning literature of gun-ownership-as-identity to test the theory about the role of Protestant religion in cultivating a gun identity. We argue that for many Protestants, gun ownership has taken on the characteristics of a distinctive social identity, but that there are clear differences between different types of Protestants—notably, evangelicals and mainliners—that render the expansive category of “Protestant” largely irrelevant as an explanatory variable. While that finding might seem straightforward to scholars of religion and politics, the broad categorical approach—that is, treating “Protestant” as explanatory—has proven surprisingly durable in studies of gun ownership and attitudes about gun control. The analysis uses a recent Pew survey with batteries of questions about gun identity, gun policy, and religion. While this research note does not fully test why this relationship between Protestantism and gun identity exists, we do show that the relationship not only exists but also affects gun policy attitudes.

To Provide or Protect? Masculinity, Economic Precarity, and Protective Gun Ownership in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 073112142199840
Author(s):  
Tara D. Warner ◽  
Tara Leigh Tober ◽  
Tristan Bridges ◽  
David F. Warner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Family Status ◽  
Gun Ownership ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
Masculinity Threat ◽  
Economic Well Being

Protection is now the modal motivation for gun ownership, and men continue to outnumber women among gun owners. While research has linked economic precarity (e.g., insecurity and anxiety) to gun ownership and attitudes, separating economic well-being from constructions of masculinity is challenging. In response to blocked economic opportunities, some gun owners prioritize armed protection, symbolically replacing the masculine role of “provider” with one associated with “protection.” Thus, understanding both persistently high rates of gun ownership in the United States (in spite of generally declining crime) alongside the gender gap in gun ownership requires deeper investigations into the meaning of guns in the United States and the role of guns in conceptualizations of American masculinity. We use recently collected crowdsourced survey data to test this provider-to-protector shift, exploring how economic precarity may operate as a cultural-level masculinity threat for some, and may intersect with marital/family status to shape gun attitudes and behaviors for both gun owners and nonowners. Results show that investments in stereotypical masculine ideals, rather than economic precarity, are linked to support for discourses associated with protective gun ownership and empowerment.

scholarly journals Guns and the Limits of Numeracy: Review of How America Got Its Guns: A History of the Gun Violence Crisis, by William Briggs.

Numeracy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Best
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gun Violence ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Gun Policy ◽  
University Of New Mexico ◽  
History Of

William Briggs. 2017. How America Got Its Guns: A History of the Gun Violence Crisis; (Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press). Paperback: ISBN 978-0-8263-5813-4. E-book ISBN 978-0-8263-5814-1. Mathematician William Briggs (co-author of the well-regarded Understanding and Using Mathematics) has written a remarkably thorough and evenhanded analysis of gun policy in the United States that draws upon the work of historians, legal scholars, social scientists, and advocates. He gives respectful hearings to claims about the importance of both gun rights and gun control. The breadth of his coverage makes it almost certain that any reader will discover new angles for thinking about gun issues.

scholarly journals The US gun policy: domestic and external dimensions

2020 ◽  
pp. 42-52
Author(s):  
Marharyta Lymar ◽  
Iryna Tykhonenko
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Arms Control ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Small Arms ◽  
Gun Policy ◽  
The U.S

The purpose of the article is to explore proliferation of firearms in the United States due to social problems (mass shootings) and public demand for increasing gun control. Primary challenges cover exploring the U.S. firearms history, which provides a key to understanding the causes of the current situation in this area; reviewing of Americans’ attitudes toward gun ownership; studying the U.S. foreign policy in the context of arms exports from Ukraine to the United States. Moreover, attention is paid to exploring the influence of the National Rifle Association (NRA) on Donald Trump’s decision on arms control and a comparative analysis of his gun policy with the policy of his predecessors. The methodological basis of the study includes a set of general and special research methods. Systematic approach is used to consider the U.S. gun policy as a complex system with the determinism of domestic and foreign policy levels. A significant role is played by descriptive-historical and chronological methods that allow to examine the evolution of the U.S. legal framework for firearms and small-arms control. The comparative method makes it possible to compare the approaches of George W. Bush’s, Barack Obama’s and Donald Trump’s administrations to the gun policy. The statistical method allows to consider the peculiarities of the U.S. exports of small arms and Ukraine’s exports of such type of weapons to the USA. The scientific novelty lies in one of the first attempts among Ukrainian authors to make a comprehensive analysis of the interdependence of internal and external aspects of firearms trafficking among the U.S. civilians. In this context, the paper examines the U.S.–Ukrainian relations. The study concludes that the U.S. gun traditions are the main stumbling block for tightening firearms legislation. On the gun issue, the U.S. domestic policy, which is heavily influenced by the NRA, determines the state’s foreign policy. At the same time, society is demanding reforms aimed at restricting the possession of firearms by the civilian population, which may increase the level of domestic security.

In Defense of Gun Control

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh Lafollette
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Private Ownership ◽  
Single Question

The gun control debate is more complex than most disputants acknowledge. We are not tasked with answering a single question: Should we have gun control? There are three distinct policy questions confronting us: Who should we permit to have which guns, and how should we regulate the acquisition, storage, and carrying of guns people may legitimately own? To answer these questions we must decide whether (and which) people have a right to bear arms, what kind of right they have, and how stringent it is. We must also evaluate divergent empirical claims about (a) the role of guns in causing harm, and (b) the degree to which private ownership of guns can protect innocent civilians from attacks by criminals, either in their homes or in public. This book sorts through the conceptual, moral, and empirical claims to fairly assess arguments for and against serious gun control. I argue that the United States needs far more gun control than we currently have in most jurisdictions.

The Emerging Role of Psychology in Shaping Gun Policy in the United States

2020 ◽  
pp. 373-411
Author(s):  
Gianni Pirelli ◽  
Kathryn Schrantz ◽  
Hayley Wechsler
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gun Policy

Queers with Guns? Against the LGBT Grain

2021 ◽  
pp. 073112142110211
Author(s):  
Thatcher Phoenix Combs
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Sexual Minority ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Gun Ownership ◽  
Sociological Literature ◽  
The Status ◽  
Lgbt Movement ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Do So

Sociological literature on gun ownership in the United States has primarily centered on white, heterosexual, cisgender men and vulnerability to violence. However, many gun owners do not fit this profile. In this article, I begin to fill this gap by focusing on one group—lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people—and answer the question: How does the status of being a vulnerable gender and/or sexual minority shape LGBTQ gun owners’ perspectives on gun ownership? To do so, I focus on gun literature, LGBTQ lives, and questions of vulnerability, and draw on in-depth interviews with 30 LGBTQ gun owners from across the United States. In this study, LGBTQ gun owners highlight two major themes. First, they discuss how their gender expression/sexuality creates possibilities for violence. Second, they relate minority oppression with the violent uprisings that created the LGBT movement. As such, these LGBTQ gun owners go against the LGBT movement’s discourse of pro-gun control and structural change.

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