Abstract

The gun ownership literature is vast, with dozens of studies seeking to explain who owns guns and why. We build on this literature in two key ways. First, we introduce a new variable into the fold: sensitivity to harm. We theorize that this concern actively inhibits gun ownership. Second, we direct theoretical and empirical attention to a predictor that has frequently been overlooked in the contemporary gun literature even though its timing makes it the proverbial confounder: childhood gun socialization. Using data from a national sample of 1,100 adults and controlling for other known predictors, we find that sensitivity to harm is negatively related to gun ownership, whereas childhood socialization is positively related to it. Furthermore, we find that childhood socialization is not only the strongest predictor of owning guns, but also confounds the relationship between racial resentment and gun ownership, and fully mediates the effect of gender.

摘要

关于枪支所有权的文献非常丰富，有数十项研究试图解释谁拥有枪支以及原因。我们以两种主要方式建立在这些文献的基础上。首先，我们引入一个新变量：对伤害的敏感性。我们推测，这种担忧会积极抑制枪支拥有。其次，我们将理论和实证注意力集中在当代枪支文献中经常被忽视的预测因素，尽管它的时机使其成为众所周知的混杂因素：儿童枪支社会化。使用来自 1,100 名成年人的全国样本数据并控制其他已知预测因素，我们发现对伤害的敏感性与拥有枪支呈负相关，而儿童社会化与之呈正相关。此外，我们发现童年社会化不仅是拥有枪支的最强预测因素，