Protection is now the modal motivation for gun ownership, and men continue to outnumber women among gun owners. While research has linked economic precarity (e.g., insecurity and anxiety) to gun ownership and attitudes, separating economic well-being from constructions of masculinity is challenging. In response to blocked economic opportunities, some gun owners prioritize armed protection, symbolically replacing the masculine role of “provider” with one associated with “protection.” Thus, understanding both persistently high rates of gun ownership in the United States (in spite of generally declining crime) alongside the gender gap in gun ownership requires deeper investigations into the meaning of guns in the United States and the role of guns in conceptualizations of American masculinity. We use recently collected crowdsourced survey data to test this provider-to-protector shift, exploring how economic precarity may operate as a cultural-level masculinity threat for some, and may intersect with marital/family status to shape gun attitudes and behaviors for both gun owners and nonowners. Results show that investments in stereotypical masculine ideals, rather than economic precarity, are linked to support for discourses associated with protective gun ownership and empowerment.

保护现在是拥有枪支的最常见动机，枪支拥有者中男性人数继续多于女性。尽管研究已将经济不稳定（例如，不安全感和焦虑）与枪支所有权和态度联系起来，但将经济福祉与男性气质的构建分开是具有挑战性的。为了应对受阻的经济机会，一些枪支拥有者优先考虑武装保护，象征性地用与“保护”相关的角色取代“提供者”的男性角色。因此，要了解美国持枪率持续居高不下（尽管犯罪率普遍下降）以及枪支拥有率的性别差距，需要更深入地调查枪支在美国的含义以及枪支在美国概念化中的作用。男子气概。我们使用最近收集的众包调查数据来测试这种从提供者到保护者的转变，探索经济不稳定如何对某些人构成文化层面的男子气概威胁，并可能与婚姻/家庭状况相交叉，从而塑造枪支态度和枪支行为所有者和非所有者。结果表明，对刻板男性理想的投资，而不是对经济不稳定的投资，与对保护性枪支所有权和赋权相关话语的支持有关。