"Why are white men stockpiling guns?"

[Anonymous]

Fascinating article in the non-ideological Scientific American about WHO is buying guns and WHY they are buying them. The article summarizes a variety of findings from recent research studies, including a number that use qualitative interviews to probe deeper the reasons for gun ownership.

So many interesting findings:

Three percent of the population now owns half of the country’s firearms, says a recent, definitive study from the Injury Control Research Center at Harvard University.

The American citizen most likely to own a gun is a white male—but not just any white guy. According to a growing number of scientific studies, the kind of man who stockpiles weapons or applies for a concealed-carry license meets a very specific profile.

These are men who are anxious about their ability to protect their families, insecure about their place in the job market, and beset by racial fears. They tend to be less educated. For the most part, they don’t appear to be religious—and, suggests one study, faith seems to reduce their attachment to guns. In fact, stockpiling guns seems to be a symptom of a much deeper crisis in meaning and purpose in their lives. Taken together, these studies describe a population that is struggling to find a new story—one in which they are once again the heroes.

“We found that white men who have experienced economic setbacks or worry about their economic futures are the group of owners most attached to their guns,” says Froese. “Those with high attachment felt that having a gun made them a better and more respected member of their communities.”

In other words, they may have suffered setbacks—but women and people of color weren’t turning to guns to make themselves feel better. “This suggests that these owners have other sources of meaning and coping when facing hard times,” notes Froese—often, religion. Indeed, Froese and Mencken found that religious faith seemed to put the brakes on white men’s attachment to guns.

For these economically insecure, irreligious white men, “the gun is a ubiquitous symbol of power and independence, two things white males are worried about,” says Froese. “Guns, therefore, provide a way to regain their masculinity, which they perceive has been eroded by increasing economic impotency.”

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/why-are-white-men-stockpiling-guns/

[Anonymous]

I feel like this group’s insecurity has really destroyed this country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like this group’s insecurity has really destroyed this country.

Pretty much.

Crap has punched them in the face - which, as a group, this is really the first time that that's happened ("this" meaning the past few decades) - and instead of recognizing that this is how everybody has been experiencing the world, some of them are doubling down. Incredible.

[Anonymous]

yep, and this is the group most likely to shoot up a school, church, movie theater, and also most likely to support Trump.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like this group’s insecurity has really destroyed this country.

Pretty much.

Crap has punched them in the face - which, as a group, this is really the first time that that's happened ("this" meaning the past few decades) - and instead of recognizing that this is how everybody has been experiencing the world, some of them are doubling down. Incredible.

It would also explain why they so rabidly support Trump - he is the bully that they wish they could be. They want to be the wealthy guy who controls others, takes any woman he wants, and gets to say "YOU'RE FIRED" whenever someone crosses them.

It's all so obvious to EVERYONE except themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:yep, and this is the group most likely to shoot up a school, church, movie theater, and also most likely to support Trump.

Yup.

[Anonymous]

Any stockpilers on DCUM who would like to chime in?

Do the various studies' findings resonate with you? Furthermore, are you religious?

[Anonymous]

I learned about one fanatic pro-gun DCUMer who doesn't own guns. S/he will probably show up to chime in.

[Anonymous]

You people suck. You know what else is obvious to EVERYONE except you? Your faux-sanctimony.

Gee, maybe these people are becoming this way because none of us can be spared even one damn day without being subjected to stories such as this. Shit, if I were an economically unstable white male, I’d be stockpiling, too.

And that you preening libs are too wrapped up in the bullshit that you can’t even see the propaganda anymore. All these mainstream pop-science news outlets run this type of shit now. National Geographic is now apologizing for being too racist in the past for portraying certain peoples as “exotic others” that don’t wear clothes and live in cities, or some such bullshit like that.

You really think that only poor white men like guns? Really??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You people suck. You know what else is obvious to EVERYONE except you? Your faux-sanctimony.

Gee, maybe these people are becoming this way because none of us can be spared even one damn day without being subjected to stories such as this. Shit, if I were an economically unstable white male, I’d be stockpiling, too.

And that you preening libs are too wrapped up in the bullshit that you can’t even see the propaganda anymore. All these mainstream pop-science news outlets run this type of shit now. National Geographic is now apologizing for being too racist in the past for portraying certain peoples as “exotic others” that don’t wear clothes and live in cities, or some such bullshit like that.

You really think that only poor white men like guns? Really??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You people suck. You know what else is obvious to EVERYONE except you? Your faux-sanctimony.

Gee, maybe these people are becoming this way because none of us can be spared even one damn day without being subjected to stories such as this. Shit, if I were an economically unstable white male, I’d be stockpiling, too.

And that you preening libs are too wrapped up in the bullshit that you can’t even see the propaganda anymore. All these mainstream pop-science news outlets run this type of shit now. National Geographic is now apologizing for being too racist in the past for portraying certain peoples as “exotic others” that don’t wear clothes and live in cities, or some such bullshit like that.

You really think that only poor white men like guns? Really??

Liking guns is not the same as stockpiling them. My FIL has a collection of antique firearms from the early 1800s forward. That is "liking" guns. That is not a stockpile of guns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You people suck. You know what else is obvious to EVERYONE except you? Your faux-sanctimony.

Gee, maybe these people are becoming this way because none of us can be spared even one damn day without being subjected to stories such as this. Shit, if I were an economically unstable white male, I’d be stockpiling, too.

And that you preening libs are too wrapped up in the bullshit that you can’t even see the propaganda anymore. All these mainstream pop-science news outlets run this type of shit now. National Geographic is now apologizing for being too racist in the past for portraying certain peoples as “exotic others” that don’t wear clothes and live in cities, or some such bullshit like that.

You really think that only poor white men like guns? Really??

So, we should feel sorry for them instead of being afraid of them and their stockpile of guns?

I think people understand why they are stockpiling guns. The point really is that they can't seem to keep up with the 21st century, that times are changing, and you need to keep up or get left behind, as they have been. They hold on to the 1950's way of life and don't want us to move beyond that because they are getting left behind, hence the helpless feeling and stockpiling of guns.

Maybe if they could keep up and accept that times change then they wouldn't get left behind. Or is that they can't compete so they turn towards anger and the stockpiling of guns?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You people suck. You know what else is obvious to EVERYONE except you? Your faux-sanctimony.

Gee, maybe these people are becoming this way because none of us can be spared even one damn day without being subjected to stories such as this. Shit, if I were an economically unstable white male, I’d be stockpiling, too.

And that you preening libs are too wrapped up in the bullshit that you can’t even see the propaganda anymore. All these mainstream pop-science news outlets run this type of shit now. National Geographic is now apologizing for being too racist in the past for portraying certain peoples as “exotic others” that don’t wear clothes and live in cities, or some such bullshit like that.

You really think that only poor white men like guns? Really??

Are you the fanatic pro-gun DCUMer who doesn't own guns?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You people suck. You know what else is obvious to EVERYONE except you? Your faux-sanctimony.

Gee, maybe these people are becoming this way because none of us can be spared even one damn day without being subjected to stories such as this. Shit, if I were an economically unstable white male, I’d be stockpiling, too.

And that you preening libs are too wrapped up in the bullshit that you can’t even see the propaganda anymore. All these mainstream pop-science news outlets run this type of shit now. National Geographic is now apologizing for being too racist in the past for portraying certain peoples as “exotic others” that don’t wear clothes and live in cities, or some such bullshit like that.

You really think that only poor white men like guns? Really??

Stories like what?

Or are you saying that they are stockpiling because liberal think tanks keep showing how statistically they are economically insecure and they are getting tired of it?

what happened to "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" and "don't expect handouts"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like this group’s insecurity has really destroyed this country.

Pretty much.

Crap has punched them in the face - which, as a group, this is really the first time that that's happened ("this" meaning the past few decades) - and instead of recognizing that this is how everybody has been experiencing the world, some of them are doubling down. Incredible.

Except for the tens of millions of white men over many generations who toiled away for subsistence wages in mines, rock quarries, steel mills, dusty farms, dangerous factories, treacherous fishing boats, not to mention as cannon fodder in the trenches of war. But, yeah. *All* white men have always had it so easy. Regular Rockefellers, I tell ya.