Black Gun Ownership: Does Perceived Racial Threat Affect Black Americans' Gun Ownership?

• In Event: 21061 - Section on Race, Gender, and Class Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 8: Rethinking Safety, Violence, and Embodiment

Abstract

Sociologists who study gun ownership in the United States have established that guns symbolize who deserve protection. While the correlation between gun ownership among White Americans, particularly men, and concerns related to status displacement or perceived racial threats by minority groups is well-documented, there is a notable gap in our understanding regarding how gun ownership among racial minorities may be influenced by perceived racial threats emanating from White Americans. Hence, the central inquiry driving this investigation is: Is there a relationship between gun ownership among African Americans and perceived racial threat? To address this question, I have gathered data spanning from 2004 to 2020 from Google Trends to gauge discussions pertaining to racism, coupled with General Social Survey (GSS) data to estimate rates of gun ownership within the Black American population. The outcomes of this analysis reveal a positive association between a lagged perceived racial threat and overall gun ownership among Black individuals. Importantly, this relationship remains consistent when examining gun ownership across gender and neighborhood classifications. However, statistical significance is observed only in the context of overall Black gun ownership and integrated gun ownership within Black household. Understanding the regional, temporal, and gender-based differences about Black gun ownership reveals the different dimensions and perceptions that gun ownership has to offer.

Author

• Amber Burrell, University of Washington