Black Gun Ownership and Belonging

• In Event: 30809 - Culture and Identity

Abstract

There has been a significant increase in minority gun owners in recent years, especially among Black/African American and Hispanic communities during the pandemic era. Existing literature on gun ownership has also mostly centered on white men and their experiences as gun owners. Past research indicated that white gun owners may harbor significant prejudices against Black people and associate guns with more negative feelings when learning that Black gun owners make use of concealed carry. Research has also shown that Black gun owners face structural barriers to ownership, often discriminated against when appealing to gun boards. They are also frequently considered illegitimate gun owners in the eyes of law enforcement officers. However, there is not a lot understood about how Black gun owners themselves articulate their identities, as well as what roles guns play in their life experiences.

My project asks the following research question: How do Black/African Americans make sense of their own experiences with gun ownership? To this end, I have conducted 16 semi-structured interviews and analyzed participants' experiences through the lens of both W.E.B. Du Bois' theory of Double Consciousness as well as through the framework of racialized spaces and belonging. I found that participants identify with the idea of being a Black gun owner differently, with some participants centering Blackness as part of their gun owner identity and other participants de-centering articulations of race as important to how they see their experiences as gun owners. Guns also serve as keys that open up spaces and foster communities and belonging but can also act as sources of exclusion and marginalization. While I do not advocate for gun ownership, the participants' reasoning for supporting and practicing gun ownership highlight the importance of a dis-aggregated understanding of gun owners, who are often treated as a cultural monolith.

Author

• Yifeng Zhang, Boston College