In the wake of a mass shooting or fresh data on gun violence, pundits and the media often blame the US’ high rate of gun ownership and deaths on a deeply rooted “gun culture.” For many—particularly advertisers—this culture conjures ideas of morally strong, empowered, self-reliant, American patriots bearing arms. And it grazes notions of masculine heroes, protectors, and providers.

But it’s difficult to define a single culture behind gun ownership and the opposition to gun control legislation that sometimes accompanies that. More importantly, blaming something as vague as “culture” isn’t exactly helpful for identifying ways to reduce the US’ high death toll.

Aiming for more useful data, researchers tried to hit on factors behind why people own guns and their attachments to them. Who owns guns and how do they feel about their possessions? And how do those feelings affect their stances on gun policies?

From a survey of more than 1,500 Americans, sociologists at Texas’ Baylor University plumbed the demographics, characteristics, and opinions of 577 gun owners. As expected, gun owners held wildly different perspectives on their guns and gun control, the researchers report in Social Problems. In particular, there was a wide range in how “empowered” owners felt. That is, if they felt their guns made them some combination of safe, responsible, in control, valuable, respected, and/or patriotic.

Still, there were clear patterns.

Gun owners, on average, were more likely to be white, male, married, older, conservative, and from rural areas; they also tended to feel socially alienated, the authors report. Of the gun owners who didn’t feel very empowered by their guns, most were women, who also tended to be politically moderate. In general, the “least empowered” subsection of gun owners tended to clump into people who seemed to use guns simply for defense or as collectors’ items.

Those in the “most empowered” subgroup were most likely to be white men who reported feeling like they were in a financially precarious position. (Conversely, men of color were less likely to feel empowered by their firearms if they had money troubles.) The empowered white males were also more likely to strongly oppose gun control measures, such as bans on certain weapons, and less likely to support mental health screening for gun purchases. They were also the most likely to report that violence against the government might be necessary or justified.

In all, the authors conclude that white men use gun ownership to mitigate economic distress. In other words, “economic distress enhances the extent to which white men, specifically, come to rely on the semiotic power of a cultural symbol… [they] utilize guns as a foundational source of power and identity.”

Moreover, “because a vocal and passionate minority of gun owners continues to feel emotionally and morally dependent on guns,” the authors expect the notion of a “gun culture” to live on and gun control efforts to remain weak.

Gun ranges

For the study, Baylor’s F. Carson Mencken and Paul Froese surveyed 1,572 Americans in the 48 contiguous states in January 2014. The demographics of the bunch more or less fit with those of a general society survey done earlier.

The survey included questions about whether respondents owned a gun and, if so, what kind and for what purpose (e.g. hunting, protection, recreation, collector’s item). The survey then asked about symbolic aspects of gun ownership, such as if gun ownership made a respondent feel “more valuable to my family” or not. Last, the survey included questions about gun control policies and the source of gun violence in the US. (See slide show below).

The researchers then combined the responses with demographic and other data, including age, sex, religiousness, income, feelings of financial stability and social alienation, political views, and overall life happiness.

In addition to the demographics already mentioned, gun owners tended to report higher incomes than non-gun owners and the same levels of education, economic instability, and happiness.

For an “empowerment” index for gun owners, researchers calculated a score for each respondent based on their level of agreement with eight statements: “Owning a gun makes me feel: (a) safe; (b) responsible; (c) confident; (d) patriotic; (e) in control of my fate; (f) more valuable to my family; (g) more valuable to my community; (h) respected.”

Though some of the empowerment categories were small, those in the low- to medium-empowerment categories tended to use guns as collector’s items, for defense, or for recreation. (More than two-thirds of those in the low-medium category used rifles for recreation).

Of the high-empowerment group, 74 percent had handguns for protection. Nearly half of the group thought that violence against the government might be necessary—a 40-percent jump in the number who said the same in the next-lower empowerment group.

In terms of associations, ‘feelings of empowerment’ was positively linked to lower education levels and negatively linked to higher education. Similarly, empowerment was linked to attending church—but just to a point. Those who reported attending church more than once a month were less likely to be highly empowered by their guns.

The authors suggest this may mean that “religious commitment offsets the need for meaning and identity through gun ownership.”

In terms of policy attitudes, 90 percent of gun owners agreed that they wanted expanded gun safety. But gun empowerment was statistically associated with stronger opposition to gun control laws. It also led to a stronger support for concealed weapons/carry permits and arming school teachers. The researchers did not identify which measures they felt would improve safety.

In terms of perceptions about the cause of gun violence in the US, women, nonwhites, older, and better-educated gun owners were most likely to see the availability of guns as a significant factor in violence. White men, on the other hand, tended not to blame guns. They were also the most likely group to see insurrection as justifiable.

“These findings indicate that a portion of gun owners who feel empowered by the gun form a distinct interest group—one that opposes gun control and feels that social problems and perhaps even personal troubles might be best solved by guns,” the authors conclude.

Though more research is needed to fully understand gun ownership and sentiments, this data may explain variation within the gun-owner population and offer a more nuanced understanding of the cultural context around guns.

Social Problems, 2017. DOI: 10.1093/socpro/spx040  (About DOIs).