usnews.com headlines their story Gun Owners Still Overwhelmingly White Males. Even though the sub-head prevaricates—“But gun groups say the demographics are changing”—that’s one highly contentious, not to say racist read. What if they’d published Violent Criminals Are Still Overwhelmingly Black? Writer Elizabeth Flock bases her report on a Pew Research gun control survey. My takeaway: 57 percent of Americans now believe that stricter gun laws would “give too much power to the government over average citizens.” Ms. Flock, on the other hand, has a race card to play . . .
The Pew Research Center’s latest survey on gun control this week provided a familiar profile of the typical gun owner in the United States: adult, white and male. That profile differs greatly from the makeup of the country, according to Pew. White men represent just a third of the U.S. population, but about 60 percent of adults with guns in America today are white men.
This revelation isn’t new. [sic] In April, Dan Baum, author of the recent book “Gun Guys: A Road Trip” about gun culture in the U.S., told U.S. News he worried that the National Rifle Association had put “an angry middle-aged white face on gun culture.” In recent years, gun companies have increasingly added outreach to women and to youth in an attempt to spread the demographic.
From there the piece gives The People of the Gun an opportunity to make the case that gun guy demographics are shifting, both in terms of gender and race/ethnicity. Even so, you have to wonder why usnews.com came at this story ass backwards. Or not.
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Assuming that they are talking about only the legal gun owners. I am sure that the average gang banger is not taking part in their surveys.
Exactly. The proper headline would read “LEGAL gun owners still older white males”. And that’s not PC, no matter how true it is….
These people suffer from the flaw of assuming the loudest and most visible are an independent and random sampling from the whole of the group.
What does race have to do with gun ownership? Who cares what color your skin is…just how safely you handle the gun.
Funny = I wonder why I have never been interviewed or surveyed And I am a life member of the NRA, well-educated upper middle class, have lots of friends just like me who shoot often. Oh, and we are Black. and Republican. Maybe I just answered my own question.
Wha? Silly Dirk, you’ve never been interviewed because you don’t exist!
wish they IRS thought that and stopped collecting AMT and cap gain taxes
At my favorite range the crowd is roughly 25% Black. Pretty much reflects the makeup of the surrounding area. I would guess this might be less a race thing and more an urban vs. rural thing.
Same here.
I am gay, Hispanic and conservative 🙁 My existence is never acknowledged either
Wow! a Unicorn! I thought I would never see one! 🙂
As a gun owner maybe. As gay and Hispanic, you are the center of attention of the breathless MSM.
Only if he was a Democrat. And especially if he wanted to talk about how he had been oppressed by straight white Republican men.
Nah, I wouldn’t be gay enough for the MSM because I like guns.
Be loud and vocal, make the 2nd Amendment community acknowledge your existence and you’ll be surprised how quickly you are accepted if for no other reason than we like strength in numbers.
It probably won’t deter the ‘gun people are racists’ crowd, though. Those people are too stupid to think of another way to win an argument.
I did have an article posted here that garnished about 300 comments, lol. I have seen a topic get that on fire in a while.
I have a five year membership NRA membership, I’m a life SAF member, and I’m also a half Asian Hispanic, and consider myself libertarian. No surveys for me either.
Could the reason that majority of gun owners being white be due to the draconian gun control laws in the states with large non-white populations? What percentage of the non-whites in this country live in CA, NY, MA NJ, CT, MD, IL, and HI?
Gun ownership can also be quite costly. The cost of ammo, range fees, permits (in the aforementioned states) and the gun itself can add up. And since many non-white groups have lower income than whites, they may opt for less expensive activities.
The Black Belt down South, and the mestizo population in the Southwest should counteract that, right?
It should up to a point, It would be interesting to see a demographic breakdown of gun owners by state.
I would participate in the survey, but I lost 7 more firearms while fishing last night. I caught my hook on one, a beautiful Ruger Gun Site Scout in .308, and it literally jumped overboard! The other 6 went down when I overturned the boat trying to reel in a 12 pound bass. Fortunately, I am okay.
Which is why, for the long game, what is happening in IL now is so important, and why Kwong v. Bloomberg, which many haven’t heard of, could be the most important 2a case since Heller.
CT Census Stats compared to USA via Census website
White persons, percent, 2011 (a) CT = 82.3% USA = 78.1%
Black persons, percent definition and source info Black persons, percent, 2011 (a) CT = 11.1% USA = 13.1%
American Indian and Alaska Native persons, percent definition and source info American Indian and Alaska Native persons, percent, 2011 (a) CT = 0.5% USA = 1.2%
Asian persons, percent definition and source info Asian persons, percent, 2011 (a) CT = 4.0% USA = 5.0%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander persons, percent definition and source info Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander persons, percent, 2011 (a) CT = 0.1% USA = 0.2%
Persons reporting two or more races, percent definition and source info Persons reporting two or more races, percent, 2011 CT = 2.0% USA = 2.3%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino Origin, percent definition and source info Persons of Hispanic or Latino Origin, percent, 2011 (b) CT = 13.8% USA = 16.7%
White persons not Hispanic, percent definition and source info White persons not Hispanic, percent, 2011 CT = 70.9% USA = 63.4%
I don’t like their tone, but we should pay attention to their numbers. Given the demographic changes taking place in the US, it is important to educate all ethnic groups on the importance of firearms, and to attract them to shooting sports and self-defense. The fact that it took the governor’s veto to stop a bad bill in Nevada illustrates that fact. As does just about everything about California.
Nobody has surveyed me either about gun ownership. I’m a male, NRA member, Libertarian, of Mexican ethnicity, American gun owner. That would skew their stats if they really did their jobs correctly, and they can’t have that. That’s not what they want portrayed.
One gets the impression, however, that the majority of Hispanic (and other minority) legislators support gun control, presumably reflecting the majority view on this issue in the communities they represent.
Most Hispanic legislators are probably 40+ years old. They’re still second generation. They still believe and hold on to the beliefs of their families from their homelands. Once we start getting 3rd and 4th generation Hispanics into office, that view will change. All my 3rd generation Mexican friends are all gun owners and their parents are anti-gun. The timing isn’t right right now but within 10 years, gun owning minorities will start moving in. 10 years in very long time from now so maybe things will start to get reversed by then.
You also have to remember that we are a country of immigrants. Most counties people come from are highly anti-gun and anti-civil rights. The countries these people come from do not have the history of firearm traditions as The US. So of course there are going to be white males with more guns, it’s part of this country’s history while everyone else who comes here doesn’t get exposed to firearms until Hollywood and their whole lives they have had to fear guns because only their governments and the gangs had them.
Racism is an integral part of Liberalism
http://tongue-tied2.blogspot.com/2006/05/leftist-racism-by-john-ray-m.html
Considering that white people consist of the majority of the population of the United States, it doesn’t surprise me.
BREAKING: The majority of males in this country are white. Film at 11.
It would be interesting to see the ratio of gun owner vs non gun owner of each nationality. I’m curious about how close those numbers would be.
Since there are more white males in general, no duh they’re gonna be more white male gun owners.
My indoor gun range(CA) is not overwhelming white. Did not know that many Asians shot guns. Spoke to my brother in GA (married an Asian) and he states the average Asian is out weighed by corn fed Georiga boys by 100 pounds. Note to self, don’t fuck with almond eyes.
Our legislators need to visit gun ranges, the most polite folks you want to meet ( perhaps because their armed) and a real melting pot.
I don’t see why a lot of white guys being gun owners is a bad thing. They grew up with them, it’s family history and American tradition. It’s like complaining that Mexicans wear big belt buckles, it’s family history and Mexican tradition. Each culture has their traditions and an American culture is unique only because the US has been the only gun culture country in the world.
“Headline Writers Still Overwhelmingly Anti-Gun”
“Sun Appears to Rise in East, Set in West”
“Water is Wet”
“Ice Is Cold”
C’mon, folks, you are dealing with the Democrat/Progressive Party Propaganda Ministry here. EVERYTHING they do is lie, either a direct lie or a lie by omission.
If these headline writers would go to a gun show, you cannot ignore the fact that the demographics have changed. Its a pretty diverse crowd now and at least the shows I attend, the attendees have gotten significantly younger. Ditto for the gun ranges.
Thats not surprising considering that most white males sons are also white males, and gun owning is hereditary more often than not.
i must see a doctor about my eyes because i could swear mr colion noir is black
I guess I don’t exist either. I live in CA, am Asian, and own firearms for both sporting purposes and self protection. The majority of my shooting buddies are all of different race and only roughly 1/3 of them are white. Not only are they “white” they are all educated outstanding middle class firearm owners. The media really should get outside and examine their audience a little bit better. Like what everyone said here, who cares what color/race/sex/sexual orientation you are! You own a firearm because you need it not because you are an OFWG.
In related news, slaves weave their own whips.
Of course, they do not mention that this goes against the narrative that gun ownership fosters crime. Homicide is decidedly culture based. White non-Hispanics are mostly from European cultures, and their homicide rate is right in the middle of those of Europe:
http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2013/01/european-murder-rates-compared-to.html
It seems to be primarily in the context of the rule of law. If you beleive that the rule of law will be reliably enforced, your homicide rates are low.
European homicide rates for the middle ages were about where African American homicide rates are now.
What if they had a headline saying that 50% of the murders were committed by young black males, who make up less than 4% of the population?
Now THATS a statistic.
Stupid, evil libtards (democrats).
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