How Partisanship, Family, and Masculinity Shape Gun Ownership Attitudes in America
Overview
This essay argues that gun ownership attitudes in America are shaped by three interconnected factors: partisanship, family socialization, and constructions of masculinity. The paper examines how family background and childhood experiences influence gun ownership beliefs, how hegemonic masculinity legitimizes firearm ownership through associations with independence and self-protection, and how partisan ideologies like gun militarism and gun populism frame the gun debate in America.
What this essay covers
- Introduction and historical context of American gun culture dating to the Revolutionary War and Second Amendment protections
- Categorization of gun owners and analysis of family socialization as a primary shaper of gun ownership attitudes
- Examination of masculinity's role in connecting gun ownership to freedom, self-sufficiency, and independence from the state
- Discussion of partisanship through concepts of gun militarism and gun populism and their influence on attitudes
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How Do Partisanship, Family, and Masculinity Shape Gun Ownership Attitudes
America’s gun culture is as complicated as it is steeped in the country’s history, dating back to the American Revolutionary War. The US has one of the highest gun ownership rates, and the US Constitution protects the right to own and wield a firearm through the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Richard Hofstadter conceived the term “gun culture” in 1970 to describe the attitudes, behaviors, and notions about firearms and their usage. The gun debate in America is often framed as a personal choice between two absolute positions. This essay will argue that the gun debate in America and gun ownership attitudes are shaped by partisanship, family, and masculinity.
The study by Boine et al. (2019) categorized gun owners into six distinct categories: family protectors who feel empowered by owning a gun, incidental gun owners who are motivated to own guns by family tradition, Second Amendment activists who participate in various gun-related events and are opposed to social change, target shooters, hunters, and self-protectors who own guns to protect themselves. Growing up in a family or society where gun ownership is considered normal can result in positive beliefs about the importance of owning a firearm. This is not only for family protection and self-protection but also to preserve the family tradition and the sense of identity or empowerment owners derive from them (Boine et al., pg. 46-47).