Not An other Gun Control Thread!

**SmokenScion** · 11-07-13, 12:36 PM

Study suggests link between gun ownership, racism - Washington Times

Researchers have found that the more racist beliefs held by a white person, the more likely the person is to own a gun — conclusions that have rankled gun rights advocates.
A team led by Kerry O'Brien, of Monash University in Australia and The University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, examined white Americans’ negative perceptions about blacks and compared the rates of both gun ownership and opposition to gun control to discover the correlations.

Read more: Study suggests link between gun ownership, racism - Washington Times
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ACTUAL STUDY: PLOS ONE: Racism, Gun Ownership and Gun Control: Biased Attitudes in US Whites May Influence Policy Decisions

After accounting for all explanatory variables, logistic regressions found that for each 1 point increase in symbolic racism there was a 50% increase in the odds of having a gun at home. After also accounting for having a gun in the home, there was still a 28% increase in support for permits to carry concealed handguns, for each one point increase in symbolic racism. The relationship between symbolic racism and opposition to banning handguns in the home (OR1.27 CI 1.03,1.58) was reduced to non-significant after accounting for having a gun in the home (OR1.17 CI.94,1.46), which likely represents self-interest in retaining property (guns).

**-Lazarus-** · 11-07-13, 02:29 PM

This study is completely ridiculous.

Study Attempts to Portray Gun Owners as Racists - Nicole Bailey

**Adretheon** · 11-07-13, 02:41 PM

Your article is reading the results backwards. The study doesn't prove that gun owners are racist, but that if you are racist then you are more likely to own a gun and are more likely to have a biased towards gun owning policies. Which doesn't surprise me.

**deathgodusmc** · 11-07-13, 02:41 PM

I have to say i have a whole lot of confidence in a study done in australia and the UK about white americans that own guns. I dont think that ones worth wiping my ass with.

**SmokenScion** · 11-07-13, 02:45 PM

Originally Posted by -Lazarus-

This study is completely ridiculous.

Study Attempts to Portray Gun Owners as Racists - Nicole Bailey

Policies of which blacks or whites are the intended or obvious beneficiaries (e.g. affirmative action, school busing) should easily be perceived as involving a racial component. But other policies may also involve a perceived racial component merely because they concern an issue that is already understood by whites in racial (black) terms. Thus, symbolic racism has been linked to opposition to and support for a range of policies that whites consistently associate with blacks (e.g., welfare), even if it is not in the self-interest of whites to do so [22]–[25], [32]. This is also likely to explain the frequently observed correlations between symbolic racism and public opinion regarding a range of criminal justice policies (e.g. death penalty, mandatory sentences). There is substantial evidence that whites associate blacks with crime, and especially violent crime [19], [30]. The result of this conflation of race and crime is that whites high on symbolic racism will support policies that are perceived as being tough on crime and oppose policies that are considered lenient. Green and colleagues [34] have found a positive relationship between symbolic racism and punitive crime policies (i.e., death penalty, three strikes imprisonment), and negative correlation with policies that are intended to assist criminals (i.e., education of inmates, poverty reduction). And although conservative ideologies and racism are inherently related, symbolic racism makes a unique contribution to crime policy attitudes after accounting for other race-neutral factors (e.g., conservatism, crime victimization, crime news exposure, and socio-demographics) [34]. More generally, symbolic racism should also correlate with fear of crime and black violence, along with attitudes to policies that may reduce, or increase, perceived threat (e.g., gun ownership, gun control). Self-protection and physical safety (e.g., fear) are the most commonly cited reason for owning a gun and opposing gun control and blacks are overrepresented in the crime statistics and media portrayals of violent crime. Accordingly, people with higher symbolic racism may be more likely to own a gun and oppose gun control as a means of dealing (consciously or unconsciously) with abstract fears regarding blacks [19].

Perhaps you could point out Specifically in the Study, what's wrong and How, rather than letting the Writers at Fox do it for you.

**Red_Lizard2** · 11-07-13, 03:07 PM

In shocking news, Fox (and thus by extension Town Hall) lies! Basically the linked opinion piece Town Hall then used pretty much says, "We know you aren't going to read it." Because if they thought you were, they'd at least post the actual quote from the study. Here is the measurements that Fox decided you didn't need to know, because you know it's unimportant and all that stuffs.

Participants responded to the item “How well does the word ‘violent’ describe most blacks?” using five response categories ranging from 1 = “extremely well”, to 5 = “not at all well” (i.e. extremely well, very well, moderately well, slightly well, or not at all well).

In wave 20 of the ANES, participants were asked to respond to a four-item scale drawn from the Symbolic Racism Scale [37]. Specifically, participants indicated the extent to which they agree (1 = agree strongly to 5 = disagree strongly) with statements such as “Generations of slavery and discrimination have created conditions that make it difficult for blacks to work their way out of the lower class” (reverse scored).

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is commonly used in experimental psychology to gauge implicit bias. A brief race (anti-black) IAT was included in wave 19 of the ANES to assess the extent to which participants demonstrated black-white racial bias.

So it was more than just the one question Fox and Town Hall is trying to say it was, and considering the study is viewable by anyone, it should be OBVIOUS they are spouting bullshit. Well besides being Town Hall/a Fox Opinion piece (similar to using National Journal and MSNBC opinion piece).

Oh, and for the 4 item scale, here is the link if anyone has access to journals (through work or school or something), I don't so can't tell you what else is included in it other then the example question given in the racism and guns study. The Symbolic Racism 2000 Scale - Henry - 2002 - Political Psychology - Wiley Online Library

**Toker** · 11-07-13, 04:02 PM

Gun control means using both hands. Pew pew!

carry on.

**dex71** · 11-07-13, 04:05 PM

So Black people who own guns are also racist? How about Asians? Or does this magic only work with whites?

**dex71** · 11-07-13, 04:06 PM

Originally Posted by Toker

Gun control means using both hands. Pew pew!

carry on.

hehe...

Gun Control means never having to say I missed you.

**SmokenScion** · 11-07-13, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by dex71

So Black people who own guns are also racist? How about Asians? Or does this magic only work with whites?

It does only work on Whites. Again, Try to think for yourselves guys and not just eat from Fox News' hand. The Study only Looked at Whites. Did you even Read the Title of the Study?

Racism, Gun Ownership and Gun Control: Biased Attitudes in US Whites May Influence Policy Decisions

It'd be a Great follow up Study, to test this on other Races, but it didn't occur here.