Cognitive and Apathetic Racism in Patterns of Gun Ownership and Gun Control Attitudes

Abstract

Our objective is to expand upon the emerging literature that examines the role of multiple forms of racism in gun ownership and gun control attitudes among non‐Latino whites. While some of these studies, using standard measures of racial resentment, speculate about the color‐coded nature of crime and whether this partially motivates gun ownership, here we specifically consider whether cognitive and apathetic types of racism along with explicit racism are associated with gun ownership and attitudes. In doing so, we advance the literature by using novel measures of racism and focus on generalized racial attitudes, not just anti‐black views. We use data from the Guns in American Life Survey, an online survey using a national sample of adult respondents, and apply regression techniques to assess whether general racial attitudes, including fear of non‐whites, are associated with gun ownership and gun control attitudes net of control variables. The multivariate results suggest that racism, including fear of other races, is not associated with gun ownership. However, cognitive and apathetic indicators of racism influence gun control attitudes for at least some whites. The implications are that racism in various forms needs to be considered in all studies involving gun‐related issues.