(courtesy massappeal.com)

“Our study investigates how and why racial prejudice can fuel white opposition to gun restrictions,” Racial Resentment and Whites’ Gun Policy Preferences in Contemporary America declares. “Drawing on research across disciplines, we suggest that the language of individual freedom used by the gun rights movement utilizes the same racially meaningful tropes as the rhetoric of the white resistance to black civil rights that developed after WWII and into the 1970s. This indicates that the gun rights narrative is color-coded and evocative of racial resentment.” Needless to say, washingtonpost.com is all over this “research paper,” including a look at its highly dubious methodology . . .

In their paper, published in the journal Political Behavior in November, Alexandra Filindra and Noah J. Kaplan found that whites were significantly less likely to support gun control measures when they had recently looked at pictures of black people, than when they had looked at pictures of white people. The study, which surveyed 1,000 white respondents, also found that the higher they scored on a common measure of racial prejudice, the stronger negative effect the photos of black people had on the respondents’ support for gun control.

Taken together, those two findings “demonstrate that racial prejudice influences white opinion regarding gun regulation in the contemporary United States,” Filindra and Kaplan conclude.

So, are white gun owners who resist civilian disarmament, mean and women who seek to defend and extend their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms, racists, perhaps unknowingly?

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115 COMMENTS

  1. What a load of absolute crap. Gun control is one of exactly TWO Jim Crow policies still in place. (The other is marriage licenses.)

    I find it ironic that this “study” is hiding behind an absurd pay wall so that nobody can debunk it.

    • yeah, this was my exact thought as well.

      The pot is calling the kettle black, and the kettle is screaming about racism now.

      • Voter ID laws aren’t racist if they apply to everyone. If minorities and the poor are disproportionately affected, it’s simply because they are too stupid to take their ID with them. I can draw my DL and work ID almost as fast as my Glock. Voting occurs close to home. Forgot your ID? Go home and get it.

        People of all races who can’t seem to carry their IDs are routinely some of the dumbest and most criminal people I’ve contacted in 15 years of law enforcement.

        Equality is about equal treatment, not equal results.

        • >> If minorities and the poor are disproportionately affected, it’s simply because they are too stupid to take their ID with them. I can draw my DL and work ID almost as fast as my Glock.

          Do you also carry your birth certificate or passport with you? In some states this year, you’d have to provide one to register as a voter if you weren’t already registered.

          >> Voting occurs close to home.

          Except in those states that significantly reduce the number of polling stations, like, say, Arizona did as soon as it was off the hook for federal review of how it conducts elections. We’ve seen the results.

          >> Equality is about equal treatment, not equal results.

          Sure. For example, suppose that we enact a tax on height – the taller you are, the more you pay. It’s totally equal treatment – we don’t discriminate by race or anything, you just need to be of the proper height. If it so happens that blacks get taxed more because they’re taller on average, well, that’s unfortunate, but it was totally an unintended side effect.

          The reality is that voter ID laws don’t have to be discriminatory, but the format in which they’re enacted by Republican legislatures all over the country is quite intentionally discriminatory, and follows the guidelines of one Lee Atwater:

          “You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger”—that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now that you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is that blacks get hurt worse than whites.”

        • @ int19h I’ve lived in various parts of Arizona and never had to go farther then 2 km to get to the nearest polling station. That’s biking and/or running distance. Granted, I don’t live out in the middle of nowhere. Only thing you need at the voting booth is a license or state-issued ID, which the state will wave the fee if you are too poor. It’s not hard really.

  2. There are plenty of racist gun owners. There’s no denying that. But what does that have to do with the rest of us?

  3. 1. You have to pay to examine the study.
    2. They linked “rhetoric”? Yep, that’s conclusive. Real fact-finding data there.
    3. Guess this means I have to get divorced from my wife of color.

  4. Restrictive and costly gun control measures actually make it more difficult for lower income people including minorities. There is cost added to production of firearms, cost of background checks, and in most states cost of obtaining a carry permit. With background checks, and added cost that any new legislation places on obtaining and owning firearms it would appear that those who make those laws are more racist than the ones buying the weapons.

  5. A “research paper” that fails the First Cardinal Rule of data analysis (Correlation Does Not Prove Causation)? Let me know when there’s a research paper that wouldn’t fail a first-year engineering course.

    • As I recall, I got some of my best grades with bad data. Because being able to properly explain bad data is worth more than good data.

  6. Did they test white people who had tested ‘non-racist’ in other experiments? Did they test for xenophobic subconscious thoughts in people of other skin colors?

    I hope I would not be guilty of this “thought crime” if tested.

  7. Everybody is racist, that’s the default. Seriously, it’s in our DNA to mistrust and avoid anyone different from us, it’s part of our survival instinct. So get over it already. We can choose not to act in a racist manner, but we can’t change our instincts, only overcome them.

  8. Don’t associate me with people I don’t want to be associated with. I hate the notion of racism, race baiting and playing the race card. Let a person open their mouths before you despise them (such as these people.) As a person who’s a supporter of 2A rights we’re all in this together regardless of gender, race etc.

    Gun control is steeped in racism and class warfare unto its self, accusations such as these are tossing stones in a glass house.

  9. I’m sure there are plenty of things that “data” could show. I don’t think its helpful to use academic studies to show people as racist. I would have loved that brainpower to be put towards a solution to creating safer people.

    • The good news is that, clearly, only a very miniscule amount of brainpower was wasted on this “study”.

    • Data itself can even be racist. For example, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report has some very very racist statistics.

      • Statistics cannot be racist. They can either be truthful and correct Comma Or wrong And untruthful. If a statistic is correct which I’m sure the FBI criminal report is done By the numbers of people who are arrested for certain crimes And those who are arrested are then prosecuted And put behind bars Is a fact. And if you look at the statistics it shows that African-Americans and Hispanics lead In the number of people charged and arrested And prosecuted and imprisoned.

  10. I love the tacit implication that gun control favors black people, and that only whitey opposes gun control. It’s another in the looney left’s endless bag of tricks to relieve blacks of the burden of responsibility for themselves and their families. I guess they would crap their pants if they showed me those same pictures and asked for MY reaction.

  11. This is comin from a random mexican dude from the hood. They cant outsmart yall so you guys are racist just like the too high standards in public schools. Please dont ever let them racist we know whats better for you than you democrats take over like foreal i own a gun because i have to defend the familia. Yall ever seen how fast cops move in the hood, if you get broken into the cops will be there damn near tomorrow.

  12. “Our study investigates how and why racial prejudice can fuel white opposition to gun restrictions…” 

    Or, put more honestly:

    “Our study takes a predetermined stereotype and seeks to bolster it with carefully cherry-picked data.”

  13. I’m tired of the media idea that all you have to do is claim racism, and that makes you right. It is a stupid, childish response (similar to plugging your ears and chanting “I can’t hear you). It is also out of line with what the majority of people believe. But I guess that is the point, the media believes that they are trend setters, and if you repeat stupid idea long enough, it becomes a smartt idea.

  14. Who cares? Racism isn’t the problem and if it was, we should consider ourselves fortunate. Evil is the enemy of all good people. Racism is the accusation from evil or ignorant people in order to hide an evil ploy. True racism is merely a symptom to a deeper problem. Let’s focus on the virus rather than the runny nose.

    • The 1960s and the rise of New Journalism where style mattered more than objective facts.

    • When the left wing “Researchers” discovered what scammers and snake oil salesmen have known forever, that it is easier to fool the unsuspecting with figures that can easily be ginned up from dubious or slipshod research. All you have to do is define your question in such a way that your answer sounds like it means more than it does and then establish a data set that will yield the result you desire and you are going to get what you want. Then you turn around and hit up unsophisticated grant money sources that already believe in the snake oil you are selling, and you propose additional “studies” that you need grant money to support. I strongly suspect this is the way the Trace and the Joyce Foundation work, and if not them there are others who feel negatively about the 2nd Amendment.

  15. When you go into a study with bias, you get bias as an output.

    Yet another attempt from the left to try to make me feel shame because I am white (hint: it is not working….but it does make any conversation with progressives a non-starter since the ‘starting line’ is ‘you are evil’.).

  16. Democrats fought for slavery and fought for segregation, Democrats started the KKK. Democrats bombed black churches. Democrats put the Japanese in internment camps. Democrats are still racist
    As far as I see the only racist gun owners are Democrats like Michael Bloomberg who’s speech in Aspen solidified this. Or pretty much every Democrat who opposes gun ownership for citizens, but not for themselves. How many anti gunners have armed security or are gun owners themselves?

  17. Okay, let’s say they’re correct [and they’re not]. So what?

    If 4 out of 5 dog lovers are racist does that mean dogs should actually be banned? WTF?

  18. LOL. This obviously is a study in misdirection. It’s likely what they are REALLY studying is how many people will pay to see results that they agree or disagree with based solely on their own prejudiced reaction to an absurd premise.

    Did you know that people who eat watermelon are more racist than people who don’t? Click HERE to pay five dollars to see the results of my study! ?

  19. whites were significantly less likely to support gun control measures when they had recently looked at pictures of black people, than when they had looked at pictures of white people.”

    Another way of looking at it is that those who were more supportive of gun control after looking at pictures of black people are racist. That would certainly be my first conclusion.

  20. It’s not racism if the reputation is justly deserved. It’s profiling. And if the majority of blacks don’t like the rep then they should take charge and fix it. NONE of the African Americans I know are criminals. Maybe I just keep good company. And just for the record, I give everyone the benefit of the doubt, until they no longer deserve it.

    • Yes. One takeaway from this study is that white people tend to associate black people with violent crime. Whether or not this is justified, it’s not really news.

      The more interesting takeaway from this is that people (whites at least) no longer seem to consider gun control to be a viable method of reducing crime. If they if they did, the photos of blacks would cause them to want more gun control not less.

      • Definitely not just white people. Asians associate blacks with crime in a big way. And Middle Easterners. Like you said though, whether or not its justified. However their narrative requires that whites and only whites are capable of harboring racist tendencies.

  21. As a 30 something black guy, I wonder how my disdain for gun control marries with their thesis.

    “No man can be truly free whose liberty is dependent upon the thought, feeling and action of others and who has himself no means in his own hand for guarding, protecting, defending and maintaining that liberty”  – Frederick Douglas

    Any person (especially black Americans), that favors gun control needs a better understanding of history.

    • The Dredd Scott decision is a wonderful tool with which to smack these sorts of people (ie, the authors and white gentrified liberals) over their heads.

      In Dredd Scott, we see two things:

      1. The SCOTUS (in particular, Taney) viewed the right to keep and bear arms as an individual right, giving lie to the liberal claim that the individual interpretation is a recent NRA fabrication,

      2. That it was the final reason why Taney thought that blacks couldn’t be viewed as people covered by the Bill of Rights. Taney’s rational was same reason for gun control through the 60’s – white liberals scared of black folks with guns.

      • This needs to be brought out in that the Dred Scott decision was more about black gun control than slavery. Something of which the narrative of Liberal alternate history scholars and documentaries needs to be exposed.

      • “The Dredd Scott decision is a wonderful tool with which to smack these sorts of people (ie, the authors and white gentrified liberals) over their heads.”

        Careful equating gun rights with Dred Scott.

        The dissent in Heller v DC specifically cited the Dred Scott decision.

        “giving lie to the liberal claim that the individual interpretation is a recent NRA fabrication,” or not, *that* is how they will gut the 2A…

  22. So I, a white gun rights supporter in the experimental group of this study, look at some pictures of black people. I think about the racist origins of gun control, and how modern gun control disproportionately disarms black Americans, who are statistically much more likely to benefit from the ability to defend themselves than I am. My resolve that gun control is evil is strengthened, and the experiment picks up that I have less support for gun control than my peer in the control group. Therefore, they have proven my prejudice against black people.

    Their whole conclusion only works if you accept the premise that supporting gun control is helping people and supporting gun rights is hurting them. I don’t. I see supporting gun control as stripping people of a fundamental right to self defense, and robbing them of the ability to choose what is right for themselves and their own families.

  23. It’s projection from the left.

    I’m just waiting for someone who doesn’t know me to seriously label me a racist.

    I’ll share with him my first wedding photo. My first wife was African-American.

    • Oh, no, that’s the “black friend defense.” It’s invalid because having positive relationships with a variety of people (regardless of appearance, background, or means) proves nothing, since you could still be subliminally secretly racist on the inside.
      The burden of proof for an accusation of racism sits squarely on the accused, and so long as one can be “secretly racist” while acting in an otherwise laudatory, normal fashion, there’s no evidence that can ever acquit.

  24. I think the problem is what people today consider racism. For instance if I tell you I’m a proud white American And I say that on a stage in front of people They automatically think I’m a white supremacist. But on the other hand you can have A black African American singer Go on stage during the Superbowl in a Black Panther Party outfit And that’s okay. I think this country is really messed up when white people just for standing up for themselves are labeled a racist I think that’s bullshit! Now I’m not saying I support the Klu Klux Klan because I don’t I don’t support any hate groups Exclamation point However I don’t think During the halftime show of an NFL Super Bowl game there should be people coming out on stage in races White hatred groups such as the Black Panther party outfits and membership. That is absolutely horrific in my book.The political correctness of this country Is causing part of this problem It’s okay to be racist against the White Man or woman But absolutely Politically Incorrect to be racist towards a black man or woman. I feel racism in any form is against the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and is just downright stupid. But thanks to our President Obama the biggest black American racist in the universe We have all these hate groups popping up now everybody whether you’re black or you’re white. It’s a big bunch of bullshit all these racist pieces of garbage can go straight to the boilermaker.

  25. Right. That’s it then, you’ve gotten away with it for years. The decent people of this planet will no longer tolerate the wanton use of nouns, verbs and articles; neither the irresponsible casting about of pro-nouns, adjectives OR adverbs. Some clever fellow in the back plans to get over with prepositions? We are on to your secret code of hate, and you will all be called to task for it. From now on all icky-doody discussion of firearms will be limited to a series of pre-approved shrugs, grunts and some hand gestures with a careful avoidance of any individual digits. You ARE being watched!

  26. Who cares what someone’s motivation is? We’re talking about a civil right here. Suppose that someone wants greater firearm freedom exactly because they think poorly of blacks and believe they need protection specifically from blacks. So what?

    That person’s efforts at advancing liberty benefits blacks, too, since the law applies to everyone. Even the most vehement racist pushing for constitutional carry will still have extended black people’s freedom when it’s achieved.

    How about a little less concern with people’s thoughts and a little more concern for their actions? Not that this “research” is intended to do more than demonize gunowners, anyway.

  27. Well, the Black Panthers were certainly spouting some racist slogans when they’d parade around with long guns on display.

    Oh, what’s that you social “science” PhD’s say? Only whites can be racists? Oh, pardon me for the confusion.

    • The constitution does not require you to be a nice person to receive civil rights. The goes for anyone.
      I remember very well the reform jewish lawyers of the ACLU saying this supporting KKK marches through all black neighborhoods in the 1970s.

      Those same lawyers however don’t support gun rights for black people. But they do say only blacks can’t be required to show ID at the voting booth. The reform jewish lawyers having never helped black people. They have used them as shields for their undermining of everyone’s civil rights.

        • As a member of the Jews For the Preservation of Firearms Ownership since 1994, why do you have a issue with talking about jewish democrat politicians who have armed government security on speed dial???? While they try to disarm the civilian population????

          The founder of the JPFO, Aaron Zelman spoke about jews and others who worked to deny gun civil rights to black people.
          Why do you have a problem taking about those who work against civil rights.

          • What does them being Jews have to do with their stance on gun rights? Why do you keep bringing it up?

        • You still have not answered my question. Why do you have a problem talking about reform jewish lawyers who support KKK groups marching through black neighborhoods carrying guns.

          Why are you so uncomfortable????

          Why are you as a socialist so uncomfortable talking about reform jewish lawyers who are against black people having guns and still support the KKK first amendment right, the reform jewish lawyers say they have that right, to march through black neighborhoods carrying guns????
          Enquiring minds want to know!

          As a member of the JPFO since 1994, I have a very enquiring mind.
          I

        • Int19h
          You can go back and watch all the interviews that I saw as a teenager starting in the 1970s with smiling lily white reform jews, so happy to say it was wonderful to support marching kkk groups carrying guns through all black neighborhoods.
          Those same white reform jewish lawyers also never supported the civil right of black gun ownership.

          The fact that you can’t bring yourself to address white reform jewish support for the klan but not black gun ownership speaks volumes about you.
          Complaining about police abuse of blacks while denying honest black people gun civil rights is the type of white liberal hypocrite I have learned to live with all my life.

  28. This great video, “No Guns for Negroes” tells a very different story:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipLqZUJqUHo

    Also, the so-called “research” apparently failed to show the same pictures to 1,000 black people. Since most violence is black on black, my guess is they would have had a similar result. I read a study that black cops are more wary of black suspects, just like white cops are.

  29. Shameless race mixer here. I am neither proud or ashamed to be white. THIS is BS. Yeah there are racist white folks. Tons of brown ones too. So what? Gun control was created to screw black people,poor people, Spanglish, Chinese and Jews. And anyone else non-white protestant. Sorry but around here(Cook Co.,IL) the majority of criminals are black and brown. Plenty of azzwholes on all sides…woe to you if you mess with my black wife or brown sons.

    • I can agree to a certain amount with you. But I do feel That if you are black brown white whatever color whatever race you should be able to stand up and be proud of that without being labeled a racist. It seems in this country That it’s okay to stand up if you’re black or brown and say I’m proud to be black or brown American. But if you try to say that as a white man You are automatically labeled a racist that is wrong. The Emancipation Proclamation and the Bill of Rights Makes every human being. In this Country Equal. Maybe more People should study history and learn the mistakes of the past before they repeat them in the near future. I am very proud to be a white man That being said I have a lot of black friends I have a lot of Asian family And Italian and Scotch-Irish. All of them are my friends and family All of them are equal in my eyes. I’m just trying to make a point When saying It’s almost impossible for a white man in this country to make a statement saying he’s a proud white American without somebody labeling him a racist or some bullshit like that.

      • The Emancipation Proclamation and the Bill of Rights Makes every human being. In this Country Equal.
        …but some animals are more “equal” than others.

    • Gun control was created to screw black people,poor people, Spanglish, Chinese and Jews.
      Usually where minorities exist in large population, are the locations with a high level of “gun control”. Where I do get a little irritated is that these same minorities who are getting screwed over by “gun control”, are the ones who vociferously advocate more of the same.

  30. Yes. Yes, they are. And therefore, they should each give one gun to a minority, as a peace offering. Y’all can just send me your tribute via Mr. Farago.

  31. Desperation. Gun control is on life support in this country and failing fast. So the pro control group are throwing tantrums.

  32. Does this mean that as a white guy I can no longer enjoy Colion Noir’s commentary?

    Bummer…

  33. Calling a white person “racist” is just a way of pressuring him to shut up when you don’t agree with him, without having to actually debate him on the merits.

    Philosophical disagreement with President Obama? You’re a racist.

    Pro-2A? You’re a racist.

    Worried about ISIS infiltrating across the border? You’re a racist.

  34. that whites were significantly less likely to support gun control measures when they had recently looked at pictures of black people,
    Soooo….if we have gun rights rallies, we should carry around photos of famous black thugs? Will Shannun, Hitlery, DiFi, Peelosi, and the others convert to our cause?
    Sounds like a winning strategy!

  35. So they measured a sociocultural bias…hooray for them. But here’s the thing: everybody is biased. EVERYBODY. EVERY-DAMN-BODY. It’s part of the human condition.

    I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that their study yielded accurate results — and from there, the conclusions they draw say far more about their own unexamined biases than it does about the people they studied.

  36. I must be missing something here.
    I look at pictures of white people, then I think gun control measures are bad.
    I look at pictures of black people, then I think gun control measures are really bad.
    And this proves I DON’T like black people?

    The fact that I want to make it easier for black people to have guns does not imply that I am racist. It implies the opposite.

  37. “Are white gun owners racist?”
    Some probably are. Most probably aren’t. But it doesn’t really matter. It a funny thing about rights…. you don’t get to pick and choose who has them and who doesn’t. If you take away anyone’s rights, everyone’s rights are at risk.

  38. I seem to recall images of black gangbangers being used in the early 90’s by democrats to push Clinton’s AWB. Ergo, liberals are aware of this phenomenon in their own ranks, and have exploited it in the past to pass legislation.

    I’ve always thought the “infamous” Willie Horton ad was tame in it’s race baiting compared to that campaign. Clinton’s crime bill even put more blacks in jail than ever before, fwiw.

  39. The range I go to has a majority black customer base. They must have internalized racism towards themselves.

  40. To protect themselves from the likes of you, Bob. Now, run along back to AstroSurf Central Command.

  41. I think many of the far right racist fanatics fail to realize that there are really millions of minorities and liberals who are actually pro-gun. This of course is inconceivable to the right wing racist as it is always “us white folks versus them blacks or them immigrants who are “not one of us” and automatically our enemy. The phrase “politics often makes strange bed fellows” does indeed apply to the gun issue but the far right refuses to believe it or take advantage of it. The use of racist language or the use of hateful speech against all liberals, immigrants, refugees, and all minorities only tends to lose Second Amendment supporters as well as drive a wedge between large groups of people who do indeed believe in the rights of the Second Amendment.

  42. “So, are white gun owners who resist civilian disarmament, mean and women who seek to defend and extend their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms, racists, perhaps unknowingly?”

    Anyone who opposes the increase and spread of collectivist authoritarianism (leftism) is by their definition a racist (and any other pejorative they think might persuade the uninformed).

  43. The early 20th century progressive loved the kkk. They have not changed. The progressives will always support gun rights for the kkk. They never supported blacks having guns. The true racist is the progressive liberal democrat. They are racist heterosexual and racist homosexual. They are godless and racist.
    The progressives are made up of a diverse group of people.

  44. Don’t be so bitter Little Brown Stain.
    We know It was not your fault, the best part of you ran down the crack of your mothers ass.
    We know that was her brother’s fault.

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