NRA Membership, Racism, and Gun Control Attitudes

• In Event: Exploring the Correlates of Public Opinion about Gun Control Policy

Abstract

Research suggests that “Guns are the New Dog Whistle,” and reveals that election candidates’ support varies by their NRA funding status and racial resentment among voters (Schutten et al., 2022). NRA members are concerned about crime committed by non-Whites (Melzer, 2009); the NRA contributed to racialized framing of gun ownership (Klein, 2020, Melzer, 2009). We expand the literature by examining whether there are differences in gun control attitudes associated with racism among non-Latino white gun owners who are NRA members and those who are not. Measures of cognitive and apatheic racism and a feelings thermometer assess racial attitudes. Data come from the 2018 Guns in American Life Survey (GALS), an online survey of over 3,100 adults. Three gun control indexes assess gun carry attitudes, concerns about gun safety and mental health, and views on banning certain types of guns and limiting clip sizes for civilians. OLS regression results show that NRA membership is consistently associated with less support for gun control and that racism is related to such attitudes. Interactions reveal some differences in the role of racism for NRA members and non-members in gun control attitudes, although overall it plays largely similar roles for both sets of gun owners.

Authors

• Amie Nielsen, University of Miami

• Margaret Kelley, University of Kansas

• Christopher Ellison, University of Texas at San Antonio