Study Finds Gun Owners Distrust Government

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rhubarb

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From the painfully obvious department:
GUN OWNERS MORE LIKELY TO DISTRUST THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A new nationwide study confirms the popular notion that people who own guns are more likely than others to have little confidence in the federal government.

Timothy Curry
Using a nationwide sample, sociologists Robert Jiobu and Timothy Curry at Ohio State University found that gun owners had less faith than non-owners in the government, even after they controlled for a variety of other factors that may affect gun ownership.

"Far from being a characteristic of a small minority, distrust of the federal government is widespread, a finding that has been reported before," said Jiobu, an associate professor at Ohio State. "We found that these people who don't have faith in the government are more likely to own guns."

The results also held true no matter who was President at the time of the survey: Ronald Reagan, George Bush or Bill Clinton.
The study was published in a recent issue of the journal Social Science Quarterly. The researchers analyzed data collected between 1988 and 1996 from the General Social Survey (GSS), which included interviews with a total of 6,576 people.

Participants were asked several questions about how much confidence they had in the people who ran the three branches of the federal government.

Nearly half of the Americans surveyed - 43.9 percent -- had hardly any confidence in one or more branches of the federal government, a finding that supports other studies.

Results showed that of those respondents who said they had a great deal of faith in all three branches of government, only 23 percent owned a firearm - compared to a 37 percent gun ownership rate among those who had hardly any faith in any branch of the federal government.

The results held firm even after the researchers controlled for a variety of other factors that may affect whether people own guns. These included things such as political ideology, gender, age, education, general fear of crime, and whether the respondents had been crime victims in the previous year. They also controlled for whether participants or someone in their household hunted, what region of the country they lived in and whether they lived in a city, in the suburbs or in a rural area.

The results also held true no matter who was President at the time of the survey: Ronald Reagan, George Bush or Bill Clinton.

Curry, also an associate professor at Ohio State, said people who don't trust the government may be more likely to own guns because firearms offer a "symbolic empowerment" to owners.

"For some people, guns represent freedom and the ability to protect themselves," Curry said. "Guns are seen as a little bit of protection in an otherwise chaotic world."

People who don't trust the government may own guns because they are afraid that the federal government may try to take their rights away, Curry said. Or, they may not fear the government itself, but may believe the government will not be able to protect them from outside forces.

The results suggest efforts to control the sale of handguns may have some unintended consequences. "To mandate decreased gun ownership through gun control legislation may only encourage those people who have little faith in the government to stockpile weapons," Jiobu said.

Understanding that some people own guns because of their lack of trust in government can shed some light on the gun control debate, according to Curry.

"We have to understand that for many people, the gun is an icon for evil and violence, while for others that same gun is an icon for democracy and personal empowerment," he said. "Until that is understood, neither side of the debate will be able to understand how the other side can be so blind to the 'truth.'"

When the U.S. gummint starts unconstitutionally financing certain religious groups, arresting others for their religious affiliation, illegally searching and seizing property, holding prisoners for years without charging them with crimes and giving itself powers not delegated by the Constitution everybody else is gonna stand up and say, "Them gun owners was right all along."
 
Yes, but for many people, trees are for making paper and fires and houses, while for others, they're for hugging. Until that is understood, neither side of the debate will be able to understand how the other side can be so blind to the 'truth.'
 
BassAckward

Have not read the study, but text entirely contradicts headline. Distrust of teh government was the independent variable, among those people, gun ownership was higher than among people who did trust. Article draws a conclusion about gun owners not on the least supported by the study.
 
We find that nearly 100% of the people who don't trust the government breath air, eat food and own automobiles. Oh yeah, they drink water too. Social Scientists are puzzled as to what that all really means... :D
 
I'd like to see a similar study regarding small business owners. I'll bet they distrust the government even more than gun owners.

Guns are symbolic empowerment because a man who rolls over to every government action would be powerless even with control of a neutron bomb wrapped around the neck of every member of Congress.
 
"...little confidence in the federal government."

Or the state government or the city government. I also didn't like the student government in high school or college, and way back when my family didn't like the governments of England, Ireland or Scotland.

OTOH, I also inherited a great confidence in guns. :)

John
 
Sheesh... I wonder if that was done on a tax payer's government grant to the university. Man, I need an easy money job like that.... :D
 
...people who own guns are more likely than others to have little faith in the Federal government. Sounds like "which comes first,the chicken or the egg? Perhaps people who own guns do so beacause they have little faith in the government.
Of the people,for the people, and by the people,just doesn't seem to ring true anymore. I belive I'll keep all of my symbolic tools.
 
Like svtruth said, the study DOES NOT say that gunowners are less trusting of the government. It said that people who don't trust the government are more likely to own guns. Scientifically, there's a huge difference between those statements and one does NOT imply the other.

Here's an example: I do a study about dog owners and find that 75% of them also own cats. My study doesn't mean that people who own cats also own dogs and no such conclusion can be drawn from it. It would be possible for my study to be absolutely accurate and for 90% of cat owners to own no other pets.

As a recent college graduate (B.S. in biology), it really pisses me off to see journalists (I remember the kinds of classes they take :rolleyes: ) taking scientific studies and twisting them to fit their story. They always take a perfectly legitimate study and screw with the conclusion, which leads to less public trust in science. :banghead:
 
Well it's even then, because the government obviously does not trust gunowners.
 
The politicians who are the biggest gun control supporters are the ones who should be trusted the least. (I guess that's pretty obvious)

Its not a gun contol issue, its a trust issue. :banghead:
 
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