Historical rates of enslavement predict modern rates of American gun ownership
No Hate In Our States
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The above headline is from United Kingdom based Phys.org, an online source of science, research and technology news.
A recently-published article on research done at the University of Wisconsin-Madison states that: The higher percentage of enslaved people that a U.S. county counted among its residents in 1860, the more guns its residents have in the present, according to a new analysis by researchers exploring why Americans' feelings about guns differ so much from people around the globe.
More than 45% of the world's civilian-owned firearms are in the United States, where just 5 percent of the world's people live. This disparity may have something to do with the way the majority of American gun owners view gun ownership.
"Gun culture is one case where American Exceptionalism really is true," says Nick Buttrick, a University of Wisconsin–Madison professor of psychology. "We are really radically different even from countries like Canada or Australia, places that have similar cultural roots."
Pew Research Center surveys show two-thirds of Americans who own guns say it's a way to keep themselves safe, while in other countries, people are more likely believe the presence of a gun adds risk and danger to their lives, considering, for example, the far higher rates of homicide and suicide in households with guns. Gun culture scholars have also explored the role of race in American gun attitudes for some time, Buttrick says, and the two may be linked.
Read more about this fascinating research here.
PACG Webmaster
The above headline is from United Kingdom based Phys.org, an online source of science, research and technology news.
A recently-published article on research done at the University of Wisconsin-Madison states that: The higher percentage of enslaved people that a U.S. county counted among its residents in 1860, the more guns its residents have in the present, according to a new analysis by researchers exploring why Americans' feelings about guns differ so much from people around the globe.
More than 45% of the world's civilian-owned firearms are in the United States, where just 5 percent of the world's people live. This disparity may have something to do with the way the majority of American gun owners view gun ownership.
"Gun culture is one case where American Exceptionalism really is true," says Nick Buttrick, a University of Wisconsin–Madison professor of psychology. "We are really radically different even from countries like Canada or Australia, places that have similar cultural roots."
Pew Research Center surveys show two-thirds of Americans who own guns say it's a way to keep themselves safe, while in other countries, people are more likely believe the presence of a gun adds risk and danger to their lives, considering, for example, the far higher rates of homicide and suicide in households with guns. Gun culture scholars have also explored the role of race in American gun attitudes for some time, Buttrick says, and the two may be linked.
Read more about this fascinating research here.
PACG Webmaster
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