So, who is buying all these guns—and why?
A story out on March 14, 2018 from Scientific American, by Jeremy Adam Smith disseminates hoards of research and data in an effort to understand the surge in gun sales in the U.S. since the election of Barack Obama in 2004.
Their findings begged this question...Why Are White Men Stockpiling Guns?
The results of all the analysis were shocking to me. Only 3%of the US population owns half the guns. I mean...who needs all those guns? Apparently its:
- White males
- Less educataed
- Not religious
- Beset by racial fears
- Insecure about their place in the job market
- Anxious about their ability to protect their families
Quoting the article:
“Research suggests it's largely because they're anxious about their ability to protect their families, insecure about their place in the job market and beset by racial fears.
In fact, stockpiling guns seems to be a symptom of a much deeper crisis in meaning and purpose in their lives. Taken together, these studies describe a population that is struggling to find a new story—one in which they are once again the heroes.”
This is despite the long proven reality of what having guns in the home actually accomplishes. Rather than becoming ‘heroes’ they become victims or victimize those closest to them.
Unfortunately, the people most likely to be killed by the guns of white men aren’t the “bad guys,” presumably criminals or terrorists. It’s themselves—and their families.
White men aren’t just the Americans most likely to own guns; according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they’re also the people most likely to put them in their own mouths and pull the trigger, especially when they’re in some kind of economic distress. A white man is three times more likely to shoot himself than a black man—while the chances that a white man will be killed by a black man are extremely slight. Most murders and shoot-outs don’t happen between strangers. They unfold within social networks, among people of the same race.
Another key factor and strong indicator a person will become a stockpiler, racism:
”A 2013 paper by a team of United Kingdom researchers found that a one-point jump in the scale they used to measure racism increased the odds of owning a gun by 50 percent.
A 2016 study from the University of Illinois at Chicago found that racial resentment among whites fueled opposition to gun control. This drives political affiliations: A 2017 study in the Social Studies Quarterly found that gun owners had become 50 percent more likely to vote Republican since 1972—and that gun culture had become strongly associated with explicit racism.”
It’s a great read and quite eye-opening. It also shifts the scale of the issue and the size of the audience that needs ‘re-educating’ on what real dangers they face to help reel in gun violence in America.
“For these economically insecure, irreligious white men, “the gun is a ubiquitous symbol of power and independence, two things white males are worried about,” says Froese. “Guns, therefore, provide a way to regain their masculinity, which they perceive has been eroded by increasing economic impotency.”
Both Froese and Stroud found pervasive anti-government sentiments among their study participants. “This is interesting because these men tend to see themselves as devoted patriots, but make a distinction between the federal government and the ‘nation,’ says Froese. “On that point, I expect that many in this group see the ‘nation’ as being white.”
The symptoms and belief systems causing this fringe to behave erratically and dangerously is eerily aligned with the Fox News, Alt Right hit list of bogeymen and imminent dangers. Is it coincidental that the resulting shift in mindset enhances their pitchmen’s revenue generating side hustles?
Sean Hannity eagerly promotes weapon sales as forcefully as the NRA and spews fear inducing BS at levels that make him and others in the media like him a core part of the problem.
The full article is available here:
blogs.scientificamerican.com/...