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American Gun Owners Are Racists. Or Not.

Robert Farago - comments No comments

Libtards (courtesy Dixon Dias)

“Racism and guns go together,” nydailynews.com “reports.” “That’s the finding of an international study released Thursday that says the two are linked. More specifically, odds are greater that a racist white American also keeps a gun at home and opposes gun control regulations. The conclusion wasn’t too surprising for researchers at Australia’s Monash University and Britain’s Manchester University, which sought to better understand American gun culture.” Considering the source, I’m not surprised, either . . .

“There had already been research showing that … blacks are more likely to be shot, so we thought there must be something happening between the concept of being black and some whites wanting guns,” Monash researcher Kerry O’Brien said in an email to the Daily News.

And that’s how you conduct a study. First you come to a conclusion then you find data to support it. And then you couch your “result” in academic jargon. Like this . . .

“It is particularly noteworthy that the relationship between symbolic racism and the gun-related outcomes was maintained in the presence of conservative ideologies, political affiliation, opposition to government control and being from a southern state, which are otherwise strong predictors of gun ownership and opposition to gun reform,” said the study, published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE .

And what, you may ask, is “symbolic racism”? Have a look at the study’s objectives:

Racism is related to policies preferences and behaviors that adversely affect blacks and appear related to a fear of blacks (e.g., increased policing, death penalty).

Wait. Who decides which policy preferences and behaviors “adversely affect blacks” and “appear” (?) related to a fear of blacks? The authors! And right from the git-go they can GTFO. While I’m no fan of police militarization since when is supporting increased policing and the death penalty a sign of racism?

There’s your “symbolic racism.” Even the pro-civilian disarmament New York Daily News felt obliged to highlight (in the seventh paragraph) the study’s bias.

The report used data from the American National Election Study and scored people based on their “symbolic racism,” which is used to measure anti-black sentiments.

Since judging someone as racist can be subjective, the study ranked racism based on how participants answered a series of questions.

One question asked, “How well does the word ‘violent’ describe most blacks?” and participants were given five responses to choose from, ranging from “extremely well” to “not at all well.”

An “extremely well” response was seen as an endorsement of a stereotype.

The News didn’t really do a deep data dive. And I’m no Nick Leghorn when it comes to debunking bunkum. But even a casual observer can see that this is junk science. At best. Only the News didn’t want to see it that way, did it? By giving voice to this ridiculous pseudo-academic nonsense without any dissenting view, they endorse it. Here’s the end of the article:

“As distant and dispassionate observers growing up in countries where there is 36 times less gun-related deaths — and gun ownership is extremely rare and well-regulated — we couldn’t make sense of why there would be resistance to gun reform in the U.S.,” O’Brien said. “Most of the logic for wanting to have a gun was illogical.”

He said that clamping down on gun violence and murder rates is tricky if U.S. whites continue to oppose strong gun reform more than other racial groups.

U.S. policymakers may have to consider implementing new policies even if it’s against popular opinion, the study found.

“It would be good to see the U.S. government dedicate more funding to research on this issue, and to look at how our own, sometimes unconscious biases may influence our policy decisions,” O’Brien said.

What’s illogical: believing that people who want to defend and extend our natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms to all Americans are racist, sexist or stupid. But with anti-gun agitprop like this in the mainstream media they have every right to be mad as hell and determined not to take it anymore. [h/t Accur81 for the image]

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Robert Farago

Robert Farago is the former publisher of The Truth About Guns (TTAG). He started the site to explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns.

0 thoughts on “American Gun Owners Are Racists. Or Not.”

  1. So. People who own something oppose laws banning what they own. I see a Nobel Prize in the works. Can we sue these sh*theads for defamation?

    Reply
  2. Pretty soon it will illegal to report activity unless you are registered to do so. We can’t have all you non professionals deciding when the cops should be called or not.

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  3. Does the FBI, or any other “neutral” organization keep track of the races of individuals convicted of perpetrating violent crimes with firearms? If so, what is the white-on-black murder rate compared to the black-on-white and black-on-black murder rates? I’m willing to make an educated guess that the results of such a study wouldn’t play well into the researchers’ favor. And the results would be RAAAAAAACIST.

    And while there may be a numerical correlation between having racist attitudes and owning firearms, the researchers are clearly engaging the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy of false causation.

    Correlation ≠ Causation. I could make an equivalent argument that the presence of ice cream trucks on the streets of my town results in a higher crime rate. It’s true, but that doesn’t mean that ice cream trucks are causing crime to go up. However, it’s the temperature going up that leads to more crime.

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    • No, no, you got it all wrong. It’s like this; BECAUSE we’re so racist, more black people are shot by other black people. Black on black crime is really just a manifestation of our psychic abilities.

      Reply
  4. All people who want to disarm black Americans are racist. All people that want to disarm white Americans are racist. Me I just hate everyone that doesn’t comprehend the constitution.

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  5. So I am being illogical by not wanting the fate of more than a 100 000 of my fellow countrymen to befall me?

    F*** you Monash university, F*** you Manchester university and the horse you rode in on.

    Usually I dont write like this but it is personal.

    Reply
  6. “It would be good to see the U.S. government dedicate more funding to research on this issue, and to look at how our own, sometimes unconscious biases may influence our policy decisions,” O’Brien said.

    It would be good to see academic researchers looking at how their own, sometimes unconscious biases can transform their research into nothing but a steaming pile of fallacies and culturally biased assumptions.

    Reply
  7. Having looked at this “study” in greater detail, I can see that it is riddled with anomolies, and geared to produce a slanted outcome.

    For instance, “symbolic racism” includes any policy measure which relates to justice, housing, education issues. A conservative viewpoint is regarded as inherently racist regardless of the merits or otherwise of the position, just viewed through the lens of the ultimate result for the “black community”, as if there were a homogenous entity capable of expressing its wishes in a coherent fashion to the researchers.

    The efficacy of firearms ownership is limited in the researchers eyes, to the ease with which it enables members of the white “community” to ensure success at suicide attempts. No mention of DGUs, no question over the suicide rate being related to the cost of medical care in the case of terminal illness.

    It is ironic that views are expressed by Australians, one of the most racist countries on the planet (viz their consistent treatment of Aboriginals and of non Causcasian illegal immigrants in recent years).

    This is a “study” where simplification is the instrument of clarification. The terms, frames of reference, and limitations in information gathered, cripple this “study” to the point of uselessness.

    Without establishing the real complexity of the overall situation, what comes across is more of a comic book.

    This was a “study” where the conclusion was foretold and any data was only permitted to support the dubious findings provided.

    The only use I can find for this is to print it off and use for toilet paper.

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  8. “…since when is supporting increased policing and the death penalty a sign of racism?”

    Normal leftist world-view. Given: Any difference in outcome, such as disproportionate crime rate or incarceration rate for a particular racial group, must be the direct result of bias in the system. Disproportionate number of black people in the prison system? The answer is obvious: Release some black people and/or lock up more people of other races. If you disagree, you are a racist. Neat and tidy, and much easier than, for example, pissing off the teachers’ unions by fixing the inner city public schools.

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  9. What a blindingly brilliant research paper. How much do you want to bet that they spent 95% of their grant money at the pub? BTW, that’s a great Linus and Lucy bit.

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  10. This is going to be interesting. Are they going to focus on the gun like they do most of the time or are they going to run with the anti-government angle? Is this going to give the TSA more power now instead of getting rid of them? I dont want to be a conspiracy theorist but the timing and location of this stinks.

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  11. When police show up after a shooting, they have one job: to gather evidence, including physical evidence AND what you & other witnesses, if any, say. If you don’t say anything, they can’t gather your statement(s) as evidence. But they will nonetheless try, and like the cop told RF, it will seem like the natural thing to do, but resist the urge. If someone has been shot & injured or killed, and you’re the shooter, investigators will likely presume that a crime has been committed. That presumption can be overcome, but don’t make the presumption tougher to overcome than it has to be.

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  12. A police officer involved in a shooting will have the benefit of his union representative and possibly a lawyer too. They are also warned to STFU until they have representation. Best reason I can think of why we should do the same.

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  13. Boy howdy are they showing their biases on this one. It’s practically a roadmap of their tactics.

    First, they clearly believe that every person with a gun is a BAD person with a gun. There is no room in their logic for people who lawfully carry guns and are not agents of the judicial system.

    Second, they completely get it wrong on why an increasing number of guns are caught at TSA checkpoints. It’s not because there are more would be criminals and terrorists (see: point #1) but because their worst nightmares are coming true — guns are increasingly NORMAL for private citizens to carry, and therefore the number of PoTG who make an innocent mistake and forget they have a gun in a bag is proportionally increasing.

    Finally, as noted above, they’re really stretching with the mass shooting thing, to the point of undermining their own credibility. Keep up the good work in that one!

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  14. This all seems like sound advice, and I hope to God I never have to use it. I have a question, though: I don’t have a lawyer on speed dial. I might know a guy who might know a guy…but that seems tenuous at best to me. Are state-appointed lawyers any help after a DGU?

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  15. They should study the racism practiced in Australia against Aborigines and in England against East Asians and stop worrying about how we live in the United States.

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  16. Your wife, husband, etc. should be calling the lawyer while you are on the phone with 911. That is why you have two cell phones.

    Reply
  17. Something old, something crude, something pitted, something blued.

    Or-

    BUY A RUSSIAN BRIDE, AND SHE’LL GRAB TWO FISTFULS OF COLD, SLAVIC FURY BEFORE WE SLAP THE LID ON HER BOX.

    THIS WEEKEND ONLY AT CRAZY CHEKHOV’S RUSSIAN BRIDE IMPORTS!

    OR!-

    “Heh’. What do you think ol’ Tim’s gonna find when he goes for her Garter?”

    Reply
  18. I have lived in Hawaii for almost 30 years and am active as a gun rights advocate. Most of your article is correct, but there are a few mistakes.

    First, since 2000, the AG has been tasked with providing a report about the number of gun registrations, denials etc. This report also details how many permits, both concealed and open, have been issued in that particular reporting period. Since 2000 there have been a total of 3 concealed carry permits issued. Prior to the reports there were the occasional report of a concealed carry permit being issued, but very few. The interesting tidbit from these yearly reports are that gun purchases have increased each and every year.

    Second, there are no additional fees required after the initial fingerprint fee. Yes, the permit process is cumbersome, and requires multiple trips to the single downtown police station to complete, but there are no more fees involved.

    Hawaii has always had a relatively low crime rate, gun crime in particular. I believe it was work by Clayton Cramer that demonstrated that gun crime actually went up after the first attempts at “gun control” in Hawaii. And, crime is significantly under-reported for fear of adversely affecting the tourist industry.

    As for the registration of all guns, that is correct, but if you look at the gun crime we do have, it is almost always done with an unregistered gun. You are required to register any firearm arriving into Hawaii within 5 days, but many do not and it is impossible to track these guns. I suspect these are the guns being used in crime. I know a former HPD officer who was in charge of their “CSI” for many years and claims that the gun registration has never been used to solve a crime in Hawaii.

    And healthcare professionals can thwart a purchase without stating any reason, just that you shouldn’t own a gun. And, there is no appeal process. You must find another doctor to state, in writing, that you are “no longer adversely affected” and then re-apply for your permit.

    Hawaii’s gun owners are sometimes their worse enemies. The cultural influences tends to prevent or minimize confrontations, which is why it is difficult to rally the necessary numbers of supporters tor change the laws. It is getting better, but we have a long way to go….

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  19. Next, they’ll say that gun owners are more likely to be global warming/climate change deniers. Not only do we want armor-piercing, nuclear-tipped bullets, we want the world to burn to a crisp because of all the harmful emissions coming from gun manufacturers. The evidence couldn’t be any clearer. Guns = that global, climate, warming change………….thing.

    Reply
  20. I bought a new Mustang recently when I waited for a Sig P238 and they weren’t available. It’s a nice mini-1911, easy to shoot and so far 100% reliable. I paid less for it than the local store was advertising the out-of-stock Sig P238. Build quality seems very good. Relatively easy to CC. Right hand safety. Satisfying purchase.

    Reply
  21. I’m no expert when it comes to analyzing video for signs of tampering, but I’ve got a pretty quick reaction-time when it comes to the print-screen key. That being said, the following is a link to a large-ish pic of the tank shell in the video at its closest point to the camera.

    http://tinypic.com/r/59u5vp/5

    Reply
  22. Announcer: “Betty Lou, you just won the Miss Kentucky pageant! What are you going to do?”

    Betty Lou: “I’m going to Knob Creek Range!!!!”

    Reply
  23. Who cares what it was, this is what the media wanted, a gun control flag to wave to get the sheeps minds off Obamacare and all the other scandals. It could have been a single shot 410 shotgun and Piers MorGOON would be raving about guns. I fully suspect Obamas media minions have been told to change the topic back to gun control at the first opportunity.

    Reply

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