White People Don't Want Black People To Own Guns

White People Don't Want You To Own Guns  A study published by the American Psychological Association in the Journal of Experimental Psyc...

White People Don't Want You To Own Guns

 A study published by the American Psychological Association in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General reveals that racially resentful white Americans are less likely to support certain gun rights if they perceive that Black people are exercising those rights more than white individuals.

The research found that white Americans with high levels of anti-Black sentiments tend to associate gun rights with white people and gun control with Black people. They were quicker to match images of white people with phrases related to gun rights, such as "self-protection" and "National Rifle Association," while associating images of Black people with gun control phrases like "waiting period" and "weapons ban."

Although the study noted that Republicans were more prone to making racially biased assumptions about gun rights compared to white Democrats, the impact of anti-Black views on the results was more significant than political party affiliation.

The study focused solely on racial resentment toward Black individuals, as expressed through the belief that racial inequalities stem from Black Americans not working hard enough to succeed and receiving unfair entitlements to promote racial equity.

Lead researcher Gerald Higginbotham, PhD, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Virginia, pointed out that guns in the United States are symbolically and practically linked to power. Many white Americans have racialized gun rights and other rights, like voting, as belonging to white citizens and not to Black citizens.

As more people become aware that Black Americans are legal gun owners, race and racism may play a more explicit role in debates surrounding gun rights and gun control reforms.

The study consisted of three online studies involving over 850 white participants, including a nationally representative sample. In two of these studies, participants were divided into groups and given articles from Fox News, with one group reading an article about Black Americans obtaining concealed-carry gun permits at a higher rate than white Americans, while the other group read an article with the races reversed.

Racially resentful participants expressed less support for concealed-carry permits when they perceived that Black Americans were obtaining them at a higher rate. However, their support for other gun rights unrelated to concealed-carry was not affected, providing evidence of racial bias impacting their views on this specific gun right.

The study's findings parallel historical efforts to restrict gun rights for Black individuals, dating back to pre-slavery times, the Jim Crow era, and the 1967 Mulford Act in California. The Mulford Act, supported by the National Rifle Association, aimed to ban the open carry of loaded firearms after Black Panther Party members carried guns to protect residents from police brutality.

The researchers emphasized that their findings should not be used to justify using anti-Black racism to build support for gun control reforms. Using racist beliefs against law-abiding Black gun owners would be shortsighted and could infringe on the rights of Black people rather than focusing on reducing gun violence.

However, the study did not explore potential intersections between racism and other gun rights or gun control measures, such as bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.