Sociology Research: Men who buy guns feel their masculinity is threatened by women

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Abstract

Today, despite national campaigns and mass shootings, gun sales continue to rise. The majority of gun owners in the United States are men, and prior research has documented the complex relationship between masculinity and gun ownership. However, a majority of the research has remained on the micro level. In this article, we look at the effects of men’s unemployment on gun ownership. Using both national- and state-level Federal Bureau of Investigation background-check data as well as economic indicators, we find that worsening economic conditions for men (relative to women) lead to increases in gun sales. Moreover, this effect is exacerbated by the prevalence of guns in an area. We supplement these analyses with nationally representative survey data showing a strong relationship between perceptions of threat to men’s gender identities and opposition to laws limiting access to guns

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>The data used in this study were collected prior to the November 2018 midterm
election by Data for Progress. The survey made use of a representative, though non-probability, online sample of registered voters in the United States from YouGov.
>The data were provided to interested researchers. The overall sample size of the
study was 3,215 (unweighted 45% male, 81% white, 38% Democratic without leaners, 30% Republican).
>Importantly, the survey contains a three-item hostile sexism scale (Glick and
Fiske 1997). Respondents are asked to agree or disagree (on a 5-point scale, ranging
from strong agreement to strong disagreement) with the following statements:
>“Most women interpret innocent remarks or acts as being sexist,” “Women are too
easily offended,” and “Most women fail to appreciate fully all that men do for
them.”

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>Respondents are asked to agree or disagree (on a 5-point scale, ranging from strong agreement to strong disagreement) with the following statements: “Most women interpret innocent remarks or acts as being sexist,” “Women are too easily offended,” and “Most women fail to appreciate fully all that men do for them.”

>In addition to the sexism items, the survey included an item asking, “Which of the following is closest to your view on gun regulations?” with options on a 5-point scale, ranging from “It should be more difficult to buy all types of guns” to “It should be less difficult to buy all types of guns.” 

>Seventy-one percent of men at the low end of the sexism scale (at the 10th percentile) say that it should be more difficult to buy guns; that figure falls to 41% among the men with the highest levels of sexism (99th percentile). Similarly, the percentage of men who think that it should be easier to buy guns increases from 7% among men scoring low on the sexism scale to 23% among those men scoring highly on the sexism scale.

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