Fear, Anxiety, and Expectation: Gender Differences in Openness to Future Gun Ownership

Abstract

There is extensive research on the correlates of gun ownership; however, less is known about the possible correlates of gun ownership among individuals who do not at present own firearms, but may be open to owning guns in the future. To that end, this study uses recently collected survey data from more than 900 nongun-owning U.S. adults to examine the factors associated with the likelihood of owning a gun in the future, motivations for prospective future ownership, and expectations about the perceived utility (i.e., empowerment) of future gun ownership. In addition to assessing the effect of fear of crime and victimization on these outcomes, analyses also examine how broader economic and cultural anxieties influence attitudes toward guns. Findings show that male nonowners are more open to future gun owning than females, and perceive greater empowerment (e.g., feeling safe; feeling respected; feeling in control) if they were to acquire a gun. Female nonowners are more fearful of crime and victimization than males, and are more likely to consider owning a gun in the future primarily for protection. Cultural, but not economic, anxieties (e.g., concerns about American identity; resistance toward immigration) along with adherence to more traditional masculine ideals (e.g., a man should be physically tough) were consistently associated with all three outcomes, for both males and females. Gender differences were reduced in some instances, but generally persisted, even after accounting for several measures of fears, risks, threats, and anxieties.

Gun Ownership and Life Satisfaction in the United States

“…For example, Dowd-Arrow, Hill, and Burdette's (2019:2) recent analysis of national survey data showed that people who own guns tend to report lower levels of victimization fears and specific phobias than people who do not own guns. These patterns are clearly consistent with the protection motivation for gun ownership (Parker et al, 2017;Warner, 2020).…”

“…First, guns may help their owners to feel safe, secure, and protected (Buttrick, 2020;Celinska, 2007;Dowd-Arrow, Hill, and Burdette, 2019;Mencken and Froese, 2019;Shapiro et al, 1997;Taylor, 2013;Warner, 2020). The idea is that owning a gun can be reassuring to individuals as they cope with a world that they define as uncertain and dangerous.…”

What Guns Mean: Who Sees Guns as Important, Essential, and Empowering (and Why)?

“…For instance, challenges to one’s personal cultural worldview (Hirschberger, Pyszczynski, and Ein‐Dor 2009), and real (or perceived) social change (Britto 2013; Hirtenlehner and Farrall 2013; Jackson 2006) can lead to individual feelings of threat. As has been demonstrated within firearm research, threat‐based dynamics contribute both to increases in gun ownership (Steidley and Kosla 2018; Steidley and Trujillo 2020; Wright, Rossi, and Daly 1983) and more favorable attitudes toward guns (Warner 2020). Theories of risk perception argue that what people fear does not stem from individual cognitive assessments of personal threat to self/safety, but rather to socially shared worldviews (Rippl 2002)—the distal or diffuse anxieties, as discussed above.…”

“…As a case in point, Hauser and Kleck (2013) reviewed 16 studies on the effect of fear on gun ownership—only three found a significant positive effect and nine found no effect (see also Dowd‐Arrow, Hill, and Burdette 2019; Warner and Thrash 2020). Having actually experienced victimization appears to be a more consistent correlate of gun ownership and support for gun control (Filindra and Kaplan 2016; Hauser and Kleck 2013; Kleck et al 2011; but see Warner 2020; Warner and Thrash 2020). The lack of a clear association between such “proximate” fears and guns may be because, as Chadee and Ying (2013) note, rational calculations of crime risk are not tenable for individuals with little immediate experience with crime or victimization (e.g., residents of low crime areas, non‐victims).…”

Masculinity, Ritual, and Racialized Status Threat: Examining Mass Shooter Manifestos Using Structural Topic Models

“…Linking gender differences with economic and racialized status threat, Warner (2020) finds that non‐gun owning men are motivated by a constellation of cultural anxieties, such as concerns about (white) American identity and resistance to immigration, in their likelihood to consider owning a gun. Indeed, Stroud (2012) refers to contemporary patterns of gun appropriation as a form of “gendered racism,” finding in interviews with men who are gun carriers that “simply coming into contact with black men induces a desire to carry” (234).…”