White Male Gun Owners Who Have Felt Economic Stress Are More Likely to Feel Morally and Emotionally Attached to Guns

White male gun owners who have lost, or fear losing, their economic footing tend to feel morally and emotionally attached to their guns, according to a Baylor University study.

This segment of the population also is most likely to say that violence against the United States government is sometimes justified, reported researchers F. Carson Mencken, Ph.D., and Paul Froese, Ph.D., professors of sociology in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences.

“This speaks to the belief in some ‘dark state’ within the government which needs fighting,” Froese said.

“What’s paradoxical is that white male gun owners in the U.S. see themselves as hyper-patriotic, but they are the first to say, ‘If the government impedes me, I have the moral and almost patriotic right to fight back.’” CONT.

Baylor U.