Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8kt4b Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-29T06:21:10.979Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Social Disruption, Gun Buying, and Anti-System Beliefs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2022

Matthew J. Lacombe Open the ORCID record for Matthew J. Lacombe [Opens in a new window] ,
Matthew D. Simonson Open the ORCID record for Matthew D. Simonson [Opens in a new window] ,
Jon Green Open the ORCID record for Jon Green [Opens in a new window]  and
James N. Druckman Open the ORCID record for James N. Druckman [Opens in a new window]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Gun ownership is a highly consequential political behavior. It often signifies a belief about the inadequacy of state-provided security and leads to membership in a powerful political constituency. As a result, it is important to understand why people buy guns and how shifting purchasing patterns affect the composition of the broader gun-owning community. We address these topics by exploring the dynamics of the gun-buying spike that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was one of the largest in American history. We find that feelings of diffuse threat prompted many individuals to buy guns. Moreover, we show that new gun owners, even more than buyers who already owned guns, exhibit strong conspiracy and anti-system beliefs. These findings have substantial consequences for the subsequent population of gun owners and provide insight into how social disruptions can alter the nature of political groups.

Type
Article
Information
Perspectives on Politics , First View , pp. 1 - 18
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Data replication sets are available in Harvard Dataverse at: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/YI3DA1

References

Albertson, Bethany, and Gadarian, Shana Kushner. 2015. Anxious Politics: Democratic Citizenship in a Threatening World. New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139963107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alcorn, Chauncey. 2020. “First-Time Buyers Fuel Pandemic-Related Surge in Gun Sales.” CNN Business, October 24. https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/24/business/gun-sales-surge-black-americans-women/index.html.Google Scholar
Angrist, Joshua D., and Pischke, Jörn-Steffen. 2009. Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist’s Companion. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bale, Jeffrey M. 2007. “Political Paranoia v. Political Realism: On Distinguishing Between Bogus Conspiracy Theories and Genuine Conspiratorial Politics.” Patterns of Prejudice 41 (1): 45–60. DOI: 10.1080/00313220601118751.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baum, Matthew, Druckman, James N., Simonson, Matthew, Lin, Jennifer, and Perlis, Roy. 2022. “The Political Consequences of Depression: How Conspiracy Beliefs, Self-Efficacy, and Depression Affect Support for Political Violence.” Institute for Policy Research Working Paper 22–01, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. https://www.ipr.northwestern.edu/documents/working-papers/2022/wp-22-01.pdf.Google Scholar
Carlson, Jennifer. 2015. Citizen-Protectors: The Everyday Politics of Guns in an Age of Decline. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199347551.001.0001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlson, Jennifer, and Goss, Kristin A.. 2017. “Gendering the Second Amendment.” Law and Contemporary Problems 80: 103–28.Google Scholar
Chen, Jiangzhuo, Vullikanti, Anil, Santos, Joost, Venkatramanan, Srinivasan, Hoops, Stefan, Mortveit, Henning, Lewis, Bryan, et al. 2021. “Epidemiological and Economic Impact of COVID-19 in the US.” Scientific Reports 11: 20451. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-99712-z.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cook, Philip J., and Ludwig, Jens. 2006. “The Social Costs of Gun Ownership.” Journal of Public Economics 90 (1–2): 379–91. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2005.02.003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, Maureen A., and Richeson, Jennifer A.. 2014. “On the Precipice of a ‘Majority-Minority’ America: Perceived Status Threat from the Racial Demographic Shift Affects White Americans’ Political Ideology.” Psychological Science 25 (6): 1189–97. DOI: 10.1177/0956797614527113.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dahl, Robert A. 1961. Who Governs? Democracy and Power in an American City. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Denham, Hannah, and Tran, Andrew Ba. 2021. “Fearing Violence and Political Uncertainty, Americans are Buying Millions More Firearms.” Washington Post, February 3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/03/gun-sales-january-background-checks/.Google Scholar
DiMaggio, Anthony R. 2022. “Conspiracy Theories and the Manufacture of Dissent: QAnon, the ‘Big Lie’, Covid-19, and the Rise of Rightwing Propaganda.” Critical Sociology 48 (6): 1025–48. DOI: 10.1177/08969205211073669.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Druckman, James N., and Shafranek, Richard M.. 2020. “The Intersection of Racial and Partisan Discrimination: Evidence from a Correspondence Study of Four-Year Colleges.” The Journal of Politics 82 (4): 1602–06. DOI: 10.1086/708776.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Druckman, James N., Klar, Samara, Krupnikov, Yanna, Levendusky, Matthew, and Ryan, John Barry. 2021. “Affective Polarization, Local Contexts and Public Opinion in America.” Nature Human Behaviour 5: 28–38. DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-01012-5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Enders, Adam M., and Uscinski, Joseph E.. 2021. “Are Misinformation, Antiscientific Claims, and Conspiracy Theories for Political Extremists?” Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 24 (4): 583–605. DOI: 10.1177/1368430220960805.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enders, Adam M., Uscinski, Joseph E., Klofstad, Casey A., Wuchty, Stefan, Seelig, Michelle I., Funchion, John R., Murthi, Manohar N., Premaratne, Kamal, and Stoler, Justin. 2022. “Who Supports Qanon? A Case Study in Political Extremism.” The Journal of Politics 84 (3): 1844–49. DOI: 10.1086/717850.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enns, Peter K., and Rothschild, Jake. 2021. “Revisiting the ‘Gold Standard’ of Polling: New Methods Outperformed Traditional Ones in 2020.” Medium [blog], March 18. https://medium.com/3streams/revisiting-the-gold-standard-of-polling-new-methods-outperformed-traditional-ones-in-2020-451650a9ba5b.Google Scholar
Enos, Ryan D. 2016. “What the Demolition of Public Housing Teaches Us about the Impact of Racial Threat on Political Behavior.” American Journal of Political Science 60 (1): 123–42. DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fanaeian, Ermiya. 2021. “Gun Sales Rise in Past Year, Especially among Women and African Americans,” interview by Scott Simon. NPR, March 13. https://www.npr.org/2021/03/13/976785274/gun-sales-rise-in-past-year-especially-among-women-and-african-americans.Google Scholar
Filindra, Alexandra, and Kaplan, Noah J.. 2016. “Racial Resentment and Whites’ Gun Policy Preferences in Contemporary America.” Political Behavior 38: 255–75. DOI: 10.1007/s11109-015-9326-4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Filindra, Alexandra, Kaplan, Noah J., and Buyuker, Beyza E.. 2021. “Racial Resentment or Sexism? White Americans’ Outgroup Attitudes as Predictors of Gun Ownership and NRA Membership.” Sociological Inquiry 91 (2): 253–86. DOI: 10.1111/soin.12388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, Marc, Berman, Mark, Spolar, Christine, Rozsa, Lori, and Tran, Andrew Ba. 2021. “America on Edge: COVID Lockdowns, Protests and Election Strife Led to Record Gun Sales.” Washington Post, January 18. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/record-gun-sales-us-2020/2021/01/18/d25e8616-55a9-11eb-a931-5b162d0d033d_story.html.Google Scholar
Gallup. N.d. “In Depth: Guns.” Washington, DC: Gallup. https://news.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.aspx.Google Scholar
Graham, Matthew H., and Yair, Omer. 2021. “Expressive Responding and Trump’s Big Lie.” Working paper, Matthew Graham, February 25. https://m-graham.com/papers/GrahamYair_BigLie.pdf.Google Scholar
Greenaway, Katharine H., and Cruwys, Tegan. 2019. “The Source Model of Group Threat: Responding to Internal and External Threats.” American Psychologist 74 (2): 218–31. DOI: 10.1037/amp0000321.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamilton, Lawrence C., and Safford, Thomas G.. 2021. “Elite Cues and the Rapid Decline in Trust in Science Agencies on COVID-19.” Sociological Perspectives 64 (5): 988–1011. DOI: 10.1177/07311214211022391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, John Mark. 1985. “The Political Economy of Group Membership.” American Political Science Review 79 (1): 79–96. DOI: 10.2307/1956120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hegland, Austin, Zhang, Annie Li, Zichettella, Brianna, and Pasek, Josh. 2022. “A Partisan Pandemic: How COVID-19 Was Primed for Polarization.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 700 (1): 55–72. DOI: 10.1177/00027162221083686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hetherington, Marc J., and Rudolph, Thomas J.. 2015. Why Washington Won’t Work: Polarization, Political Trust, and the Governing Crisis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horner, Dylan E., Sielaff, Alex, Pyszczynski, Tom, and Greenberg, Jeff. 2021. “The Role of Perceived Level of Threat, Reactance Proneness, Political Orientation, and Coronavirus Salience on Health Behavior Intentions.” Psychology & Health, September 29. DOI: 10.1080/08870446.2021.1982940.Google Scholar
Imhoff, Roland, Zimmer, Felix, Klein, Olivier, João, H. C. António, Babinska, Maria, Bangerter, Adrian, Bilewicz, Michal, et al. 2022. “Conspiracy Mentality and Political Orientation across 26 Countries.” Nature Human Behaviour 6: 392–403. DOI: 10.1038/s41562-021-01258-7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jackson, Joshua. 2006. “Introducing Fear of Crime to Risk Research.” Risk Analysis 26 (1): 253–64. DOI: 10.1111/j.1539-6924.2006.00715.x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jamieson, Kathleen Hall, Romer, Daniel, Jamieson, Patrick E., Winneg, Kenneth M., and Pasek, Josh. 2021. “The Role of Non-COVID-Specific and COVID-Specific Factors in Predicting a Shift in Willingness to Vaccinate: A Panel Study.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118 (52): e2112266118. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2112266118.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jiobu, Robert M., and Curry, Timothy J.. 2001. “Lack of Confidence in the Federal Government and the Ownership of Firearms.” Social Science Quarterly 82 (1): 77–88. DOI: 10.1111/0038-4941.00008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jolley, Daniel, and Paterson, Jenny L.. 2020. “Pylons Ablaze: Examining the Role of 5G COVID-19 Conspiracy Beliefs and Support for Violence.” British Journal of Social Psychology 59 (3): 628–40. DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12394.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Joslyn, Mark R. 2020. The Gun Gap: The Influence of Gun Ownership on Political Behavior and Attitudes. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190064822.001.0001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joslyn, Mark R., Haider-Markel, Donald P., Baggs, Michael, and Bilbo, Andrew. 2017. “Emerging Political Identities? Gun Ownership and Voting in Presidential Elections.” Social Science Quarterly 98 (2): 382–96. DOI: 10.1111/ssqu.12421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jutzi, Chiara A., Willardt, Robin, Schmid, Petra C., and Jones, Eva. 2020. “Between Conspiracy Beliefs, Ingroup Bias, and System Justification: How People Use Defense Strategies to Cope With the Threat of COVID-19.” Frontiers in Psychology 11: 578586. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.578586.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kaplan, Scott, Lefler, Jacob, and Zilberman, David. 2022. “The Political Economy of COVID-19.” Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy. 44 (1): 477–88. DOI: 10.1002/aepp.13164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kerner, Liz, Losee, Joy E., Higginbotham, Gerald D., and Shepperd, James A.. 2022. “Interest in Purchasing Firearms in the United States at the Outset of the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Journal of Threat Assessment and Management 9 (1): 52–66. DOI: 10.1037/tam0000174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klar, Samara. 2013. “The Influence of Competing Identity Primes on Political Preferences.” The Journal of Politics 75 (4): 1108–24. DOI: 10.1017/S0022381613000698.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knowles, Eric D., and Tropp, Linda R.. 2018. “The Racial and Economic Context of Trump Support: Evidence for Threat, Identity, and Contact Effects in the 2016 Presidential Election.” Social Psychological and Personality Science 9 (3): 275–84. DOI: 10.1177/19485506187593262381613000698.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lacombe, Matthew J. 2019. “The Political Weaponization of Gun Owners: The National Rifle Association’s Cultivation, Dissemination, and Use of a Group Social Identity.” Journal of Politics 81 (4): 1342–56. DOI: 10.1086/704329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lacombe, Matthew J. 2021. Firepower: How the NRA Turned Gun Owners into a Political Force. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Lacombe, Matthew J., Howat, Adam J., and Rothschild, Jacob E.. 2019. “Gun Ownership as a Social Identity: Estimating Behavioral and Attitudinal Relationships.” Social Science Quarterly 100 (6): 2408–24. DOI: 10.1111/ssqu.12710.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamberty, Pia, and Leiser, David. 2019. “Sometimes You Just Have to Go in: The Link between Conspiracy Beliefs and Political Action.” PsyArXiv, April 23. DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/bdrxc.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landau, Mark J., Kay, Aaron C., and Whitson, Jennifer A.. 2015. “Compensatory Control and the Appeal of a Structured World.” Psychological Bulletin 141 (3): 694–722. DOI: 10.1037/a0038703.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lang, Bree J., and Lang, Matthew. 2021. “Pandemics, Protests, and Firearms.” American Journal of Health Economics 7 (2): 131–63. DOI: 10.1086/713035.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Latkin, Carl A., Dayton, Lauren, Strickland, Justin C., Colon, Brian, Rimal, Rajiv, and Boodram, Basmattee. 2020. “An Assessment of the Rapid Decline of Trust in US Sources of Public Information about COVID-19.” Journal of Health Communication 25 (10): 764–73. DOI: 10.1080/10810730.2020.1865487.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lehdonvirta, Vili, Oksanen, Atte, Räsänen, Pekka, and Blank, Grant. 2021. “Social Media, Web, and Panel Surveys: Using Non‐Probability Samples in Social and Policy Research.” Policy & Internet 13 (1): 134–55. DOI: 10.1002/poi3.238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levinsson, Anna, Miconi, Diana, Li, Zhiyin, Frounfelker, Rochelle L., and Rousseau, Cécile. 2021. “Conspiracy Theories, Psychological Distress, and Sympathy for Violent Radicalization in Young Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18 (15): 7846. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18157846.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewandowsky, Stephan, Gignac, Gilles E., and Oberauer, Klaus. 2013. “The Role of Conspiracist Ideation and Worldviews in Predicting Rejection of Science.” PLOS ONE 8 (10): e75637. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0075637.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Linthicum, Kate. 2020. “Gun Sales Are Soaring. And It’s Not Just Conservatives Stocking Up.” Los Angeles Times, October 30. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-10-30/gun-sales-are-soaring-and-its-not-just-conservatives-stocking-up.Google Scholar
Melzer, Scott. 2009. Gun Crusaders: The NRA’s Culture War. New York: NYU Press.Google Scholar
Merino, Stephen M. 2018. “God and Guns: Examining Religious Influences on Gun Control Attitudes in the United States.” Religions 9 (6): 189. DOI: 10.3390/rel9060189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mernyk, Joseph S., Pink, Sophia L., Druckman, James N., and Willer, Robb. 2022. “Correcting Inaccurate Metaperceptions Reduces Americans’ Support for Partisan Violence.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119 (16): e2116851119. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2116851119.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Merry, Melissa K. 2016. “Constructing Policy Narratives in 140 Characters or Less: The Case of Gun Policy Organizations.” Policy Studies Journal 44 (4): 373–95. DOI: 10.1111/psj.12142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merry, Melissa K. 2020. Warped Narratives: Distortion in the Framing of Gun Policy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. DOI: 10.3998/mpub.10063035.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Joanne M., Saunders, Kyle L., and Farhart, Christina E.. 2016. “Conspiracy Endorsement as Motivated Reasoning: The Moderating Roles of Political Knowledge and Trust.” American Journal of Political Science 60 (4): 824–44. DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mutz, Diana C. 2018. “Status Threat, Not Economic Hardship, Explains the 2016 Presidential Vote.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115 (19): E4330–39. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1718155115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nass, Daniel, and Barton, Champe. 2020. “How Many Guns Did Americans Buy Last Month?” The Trace, August 3. https://www.thetrace.org/2020/08/gun-sales-estimates/.Google Scholar
O’Brien, Kerry, Forrest, Walter, Lynott, Dermot, and Daly, Michael. 2013. “Racism, Gun Ownership and Gun Control: Biased Attitudes in US Whites May Influence Policy Decisions.” PLoS ONE 8 (10): e77552. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0077552.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oliver, J. Eric, and Wood, Thomas J.. 2014. “Conspiracy Theories and the Paranoid Style(s) of Mass Opinion.” American Journal of Political Science 58 (4): 952–66. DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12084.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oliver, J. Eric, and Wood, Thomas J.. 2018. Enchanted America: How Intuition and Reason Divide Our Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olson, Mancur. 1965. The Logic of Collective Action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
O’Rourke, Ciara. 2020. “They’re Afraid. They’re Buying Guns. But They’re Not Voting for Trump.” Politico, October 25. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/25/first-time-gun-sales-not-voting-for-trump-430310.Google Scholar
Parker, Kim, Horowitz, Juliana Menasce, Igielnik, Ruth, Oliphant, Baxter, and Brown, Anna. 2017. “America’s Complex Relationship with Guns.” Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, June 22. http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2017/06/22/americas-complex-relationship-with-guns/.Google Scholar
Perlis, Roy H., Santillana, Mauricio, Ognyanova, Katherine, Green, Jon, Druckman, James, Lazer, David, and Baum, Matthew A.. 2021. “Factors Associated with Self-Reported Symptoms of Depression among Adults with and without a Previous COVID-19 Diagnosis” JAMA Network Open 4 (6): e2116612. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.16612.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quillian, Lincoln. 1995. “Prejudice as a Response to Perceived Group Threat: Population Composition and Anti-Immigrant and Racial Prejudice in Europe.” American Sociological Review 60 (4): 586–611. DOI: 10.2307/2096296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radford, Jason, Green, Jon, Quintana, Alexi, Safarpour, Alauna, Simonson, Matthew D., Baum, Matthew, Lazer, David, et al. 2022. “Evaluating the Generalizability of the COVID States Survey—A Large-Scale, Non-Probability Survey.” OSF Preprints, March 7. DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/cwkg7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reiss, Stefan, Leen-Thomele, Eline, Klackl, Johannes, and Jonas, Eva. 2021. “Exploring the Landscape of Psychological Threat: A Cartography of Threats and Threat Responses.” Social and Personality Psychology Compass 15 (4): e12588. DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12588.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Romer, Daniel, and Jamieson, Kathleen Hall. 2020. “Conspiracy Theories as Barriers to Controlling the Spread of COVID-19 in the U.S.” Social Science & Medicine 263: 113356. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113356.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schattschneider, E.E. 1960. The Semi-Sovereign People. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Wilson.Google Scholar
Schlipphak, Bernd. 2021. “Threat Perceptions, Blame Attribution, and Political Trust.” Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties. DOI: 10.1080/17457289.2021.2001474.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scrima, Fabrizio, Miceli, Silvana, Caci, Barbara, and Cardaci, Maurizio. 2022. “The Relationship Between Fear of COVID-19 and Intention to Get Vaccinated: The Serial Mediation Roles of Existential Anxiety and Conspiracy Beliefs.” Personality and Individual Differences 184: 111188. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2021.111188.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sloan, Melissa M., Haner, Murat, Cullen, Francis T., Graham, Amanda, Aydin, Ebru, Kulig, Teresa C., and Jonson, Cheryl Lero. 2021. “Using Behavioral Strategies to Cope with the Threat of Terrorism: A National-Level Study.” Crime & Delinquency 67 (12): 2011–42. DOI: 10.1177/0011128720940984.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Tom W., Laken, Faith, and Son, Jaesok. 2015. “Gun Ownership in the United States: Measurement Issues and Trends.” Chicago: NORC at the University of Chicago, General Social Survey Methodological Report No. 123. https://gss.norc.org/Documents/reports/methodological-reports/MR123%20Gun%20Ownership.pdf.Google Scholar
Šrol, Jakub, Mikušková, Eva Ballová, and Čavojová, Vladimíra. 2021. “When We Are Worried, What Are We Thinking? Anxiety, Lack of Control, and Conspiracy Beliefs amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Applied Cognitive Psychology 35 (3): 720–29. DOI: 10.1002/acp.3798.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sternisko, Anni, Cichocka, Aleksandra, Cislak, Aleksandra, and Van Bavel, Jay J.. 2021. “National Narcissism Predicts the Belief in and the Dissemination of Conspiracy Theories during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from 56 Countries.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. DOI: 10.1177/01461672211054947.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stollberg, Janine, and Jonas, Eva. 2021. “Existential Threat as a Challenge for Individual and Collective Engagement: Climate Change and the Motivation to Act.” Current Opinion in Psychology 42 (2): 145–50. DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.10.004.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stroebe, Wolfgang, Leander, N. Pontus, and Kruglanski, Arie W.. 2017. “Is It a Dangerous World Out There? The Motivational Bases of American Gun Ownership.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 43 (8): 1071–85. DOI: 10.1177/0146167217703952.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stroud, Angela. 2012. “Good Guys with Guns: Hegemonic Masculinity and Concealed Handguns.” Gender and Society 26 (2): 216–38. DOI: 10.1177/0891243211434612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stroud, Angela. 2016. Good Guys with Guns: The Appeal and Consequences of Concealed Carry. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sunstein, Cass R., and Vermeule, Adrian. 2009. “Conspiracy Theories: Causes and Cures.” The Journal of Political Philosophy 17 (2): 202–27. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9760.2008.00325.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tavernise, Sabrina. 2021. “An Arms Race in America: Gun Buying Spiked During the Pandemic. It’s Still Up.” New York Times, May 29. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/29/us/gun-purchases-ownership-pandemic.html.Google Scholar
Tocqueville, Alexis de. (1835) 2000. Democracy in America, eds. and trans. Mansfield, Harvey C. and Winthrop, Delba. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Traylor, Kat, Smith, Philip, and Tomlin, Bruce. 2020. “Black Gun Ownership Rises amid Pandemic, Protests for Racial Justice,” interview by Leigh Paterson. NPR, September 6. https://www.npr.org/2020/09/06/910194857/black-gun-ownership-rises-amid-pandemic-protests-for-racial-justice.Google Scholar
Truman, David B. 1951. The Governmental Process: Political Interests and Public Opinion. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Uscinski, Joseph E., Enders, Adam M., Seelig, Michelle I., Klofstad, Casey A., Funchion, John R., Everett, Caleb, Wuchty, Stefan, Premaratne, Kamal, and Murthi, Manohar N.. 2021. “American Politics in Two Dimensions: Partisan and Ideological Identities versus Anti‐Establishment Orientations.” American Journal of Political Science 65 (4): 877–95. DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12616.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uscinski, Joseph E., and Parent, Joseph M.. 2014. American Conspiracy Theories. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199351800.001.0001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Prooijen, Jan-Willem. 2019. “An Existential Threat Model of Conspiracy Theories.” European Psychologist 21 (1): 16–25. DOI: 10.1027/1016-9040/a000381.Google Scholar
van Prooijen, Jan-Willem, and Douglas, Karen M.. 2017. “Conspiracy Theories as Part of History: The Role of Societal Crisis Situations.” Memory Studies 10 (3): 323–33. DOI: 10.1177/1750698017701615.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Warner, Tara D. 2020. “Fear, Anxiety, and Expectation: Gender Differences in Openness to Future Gun Ownership.” Violence and Gender 7 (1): 11–18. DOI: 10.1089/vio.2019.0025.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warner, Tara D., and Thrash, Courtney R.. 2019. “A Matter of Degree? Fear, Anxiety, and Protective Gun Ownership in the United States.” Social Science Quarterly 101 (1): 285–308. DOI: 10.1111/ssqu.12735.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yamane, David. 2016. “Awash in a Sea of Faith and Firearms: Rediscovering the Connection Between Religion and Gun Ownership in America.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 55 (3): 622–36. DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yamane, David. 2017. “The Sociology of U.S. Gun Culture.” Sociology Compass 11 (7): e12497. DOI: 10.1111/soc4.12497.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yamane, David. 2021. “Gun Culture 2.0 and the Great Gun-Buying Spree of 2020.” Discourse, February 2. https://www.discoursemagazine.com/culture-and-society/2021/02/02/gun-culture-2-0-and-the-great-gun-buying-spree-of-2020/.Google Scholar
Young, Ryan, Andone, Dakin, and Kirkland, Pamela. 2021. “Gun Sales Rise among Black People as They Look for Firearm Training and Education.” CNN, June 23. https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/23/us/black-gun-owners-sales-rising/index.html.Google Scholar
Zhang, Xueying, and Lin, Mei-Chen. 2022. “The Effects of Social Identities and Issue Involvement on Perceptions of Media Bias against Gun Owners and Intention to Participate in Discursive Activities: In the Context of the Media Coverage of Mass Shootings.” Mass Communication and Society 25 (2), 260–81. DOI: 10.1080/15205436.2021.1916036.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, Erfei, Wu, Qiao, Crimmins, Eileen M., and Ailshire, Jennifer A.. 2020. “Media Trust and Infection Mitigating Behaviours During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the USA.” BMJ Global Health 5 (10): e003323. DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003323.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: Link

Lacombe et al. Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/YI3DA1
Link
Supplementary material: File

Lacombe et al. supplementary material

Online Appendices A-C

Download Lacombe et al. supplementary material(File)
File 2.3 MB