Shocking!
A research team led by Kerry O'Brien of Monash University in Australia reports a high score on a common measure of racial resentment increases the odds that a person will (a) have a gun in the house, and (b) be opposed to gun control. This holds true even after other "explanatory variables," including political party affiliation, are taken into account. "The statistics on firearm-related suicides and homicides in the U.S. might reasonably be expected to convince U.S. citizens that action on reducing gun ownership and use would be beneficial to their health," the researchers write in the online journal PLOS One. "Yet, U.S. whites oppose strong gun reform more than all other racial groups, despite a much greater likelihood that whites will kill themselves with their own guns (suicide) than be killed by someone else." They conclude that these "paradoxical attitudes" among American whites-who oppose measures that would reduce their own risk of violent death-can be explained in part by "anti-black prejudice." O'Brien and his colleagues analyzed data from several waves of the American National Election Studies, large-scale surveys that take place during federal election years. The sample of voters skewed slightly conservative: "Just over half (52 percent) of the sample had a gun in the home, 66 percent opposed bans on handguns in the home, and 52 percent reported support for permits to carry a concealed handgun."
http://www.psmag.com/blogs/news-blog/study-links-white-racism-opposition-gun-control-69381/
A research team led by Kerry O'Brien of Monash University in Australia reports a high score on a common measure of racial resentment increases the odds that a person will (a) have a gun in the house, and (b) be opposed to gun control. This holds true even after other "explanatory variables," including political party affiliation, are taken into account. "The statistics on firearm-related suicides and homicides in the U.S. might reasonably be expected to convince U.S. citizens that action on reducing gun ownership and use would be beneficial to their health," the researchers write in the online journal PLOS One. "Yet, U.S. whites oppose strong gun reform more than all other racial groups, despite a much greater likelihood that whites will kill themselves with their own guns (suicide) than be killed by someone else." They conclude that these "paradoxical attitudes" among American whites-who oppose measures that would reduce their own risk of violent death-can be explained in part by "anti-black prejudice." O'Brien and his colleagues analyzed data from several waves of the American National Election Studies, large-scale surveys that take place during federal election years. The sample of voters skewed slightly conservative: "Just over half (52 percent) of the sample had a gun in the home, 66 percent opposed bans on handguns in the home, and 52 percent reported support for permits to carry a concealed handgun."
http://www.psmag.com/blogs/news-blog/study-links-white-racism-opposition-gun-control-69381/