6 years ago
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Racism, Gun Ownership and Gun Control: Biased Attitudes in US Whites May Influence Policy Decisions
Objective Racism is related to policies preferences and behaviors that adversely affect blacks and appear related to a fear of blacks (e.g., increased policing, death penalty). This study examined whether racism is also related to gun ownership and opposition to gun controls in US whites. Method The most recent data from the American National Election Study, a large representative US sample, was used to test relationships between racism, gun ownership, and opposition to gun control in US whites.
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This is an interesting interactive forum.....for instance this was a question from a reader:
"The question "How well does the word 'violent' describe most blacks?" was asked, with lower scores indicating racism. However, this question implies that it is asking about how well the word 'violent' describes blacks compared to other races, such as whites, asians, etc (e.g. "Does the word 'violent' describe most blacks, compared to other races, such as whites, asians, etc").
"According to Beureau of Justice statistics, data show that from 1976 to 2005, black victims were killed by blacks 94% of the time." ... "Overall, more than half the nation's homicide victims are African-American, though blacks make up only 13% of the total U.S. population. Of those black murder victims, 85% were men, mostly young men." Source: http://online.wsj.com/new...
Based on these statistics alone, it would be accurate to claim that blacks are more violent in the U.S compared to other races. Therefore, if a person interpreted the question in the way described they would be correct, but would they necessarily be racist?"
Sometimes I find these types of studies to be corrals, where the participants are being used for an agenda. For instance, were only whites asked these questions. Do you think black respondents would actually show to be more racist if asked that same question?...and a sweeping statement of "describe most blacks"...that's pretty over the top.
This is an older study from 2013 I thought had some interesting statistics relevant for today. You're right about agenda corraling research, I assume quantifying biases in any demographic probably can only yield subjective conclusions no matter the "explanatory variables, logistic regressions" considered. Most of the authors are from Australia and they never understand USA gun obsessions or whatever and anyway, the study found "paradoxical attitudes" among US whites so what are we really supposed to think? Thank you for your thoughtful response btw, was hoping for a discussion, this Vegas thing has me really distraught, to say the least, I can't make any sense of it. Maybe I'm searching for answers in all the wrong places...
There is an aftermath picture on Reddit that really hits home hard. You really do have to wonder what the motivation for this was, and sometimes, there is no sense to be made out of something like this. This guy planned it thoroughly. No manifesto's found, not social footprints to scour, no mental history. The only thing similar is the attack at the Resorts World Manila where a lone gunman killed 37 people there....he was a heavy gambler and heavily in debt and just snapped.
The Daily Beast is now reporting that this guy maybe initially planned to attack the Chance the Rapper/Lorde concert.
It's a trick question. The question asks for a prejudiced answer ascribing behavior on the basis of race. There's no answer that isn't racist. Your link is broken, but there's Racism-with-the-capital-R deep in the grain of that as well. Those statistics are based on convictions by a justice system not much removed from the time of the plantation overseers. Critics could, rightly, point out that a not-insignificant part of those statistics will be down to the Racism of the poverty-to-prison system that yields them. Crime statistics are awfully murky things anyway to use to extrapolate out broad-brush assertions like "blacks are more violent in the U.S compared to other races."
Mind you, I know you're from Philly and I'm not going to tell you how the world is any more than I would tell someone from Detroit, or Atlanta, or anywhere else. Will say, though, poverty would be a better basis on which to consider violence than race. You can't win for losing.
I certainly do believe that it is economic turmoil that causes the cascading mess of injustice. Nobody wins in the entrapment of poverty and it gets worse the longer it continues. It goes from societal immorality and drifts into societal amorality and that is the end of civilized behavior.
By your statistics then black men might be more violent but black women, not so much. You'd also have to look at how this went in other countries.
I have seen several videos where the police react to black men openly carrying guns in the US. It didn't go well for the black men. It appears that the second amendment mainly applies to white people.
Added: Open Carry: Black Man Vs White Man
I do think gun ownership is/was white driven, but gun ownership/use is not just a white thing anymore. I also think gun sentiment is different in different parts of the country/society/culture. Urban sentiment and reasoning is going to be different from a rural one.
Viceland had an eye-opening Black Market episode about the gun situation in this country.
Oh, there is a huge black market in guns....hell years ago I knew a volunteer for inner city kids and had told me these kids could rent guns for something and if they didn't use them, could bring them back. If they were used they had to buy it and keep it or lose it.
It's disturbing to consider these young black kids buying guns, from southern NRA badge wearing confederate folks, willy-nilly and bringing the weapons north only to kill each other.