In this post by APA, Dr Higginbotham and his co-authors summarize their paper (Higginbotham et al., 2022) which discusses White Americans' perceptions of who gun rights are for in the United States.
Americans' attitudes towards firearms are influenced by many factors, one factor that is often overlooked being racial attitudes. Recent research has found that White Americans who have stronger anti-Black attitudes report stronger opposition to gun control. U.S. history shows that the strength of the link between anti-Black and pro-gun often depends on whose access to guns is in question, as some of the most restrictive gun laws in U.S. history have either overtly or covertly targeted Black individuals' ability to own firearms.
This combination of findings and history suggests that White Americans with strong anti-Black attitudes who typically show the greatest support for gun rights, may be more hesitant to support when they think of Black gun owners utilizing gun rights. Higginbotham and colleagues investigated this contextual idea in their 2022 paper and found that when primed to think about Black Americans seeking to use their Second Amendment Rights, by pursuing concealed carry permits, White participants with strong anti-Black attitudes were less supportive of concealed carry rights. This finding provides empirical support for the idea that White Americans with anti-Black attitudes are influenced by race when considering their support for gun rights.
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