Beyond the Federal Drug War: A Panel Study of State-Level Powder and Crack Cocaine Laws, 1977–2010

Determinants of Variation in State Concealed Carry Laws, 1970–2016

“…Specifically, model results indicate that the presence of a woman in the governor's office matters to the outcome at hand, with the exact influence of a female governor varying by region and Republican strength in the legislature. Additionally, these findings reaffirm calls by other social control authors (e.g., Malone 2018a; Stucky et al. ) to examine the possible influence of gendered politics on various types of social control.…”

“…Specifically, it is important to note that net of several controls for other types of threat, the distance between the rich and the poor independently influences whether states have more permissive CCW laws. While other studies have been unable to detect a relationship between this measure of inequality and state social control (e.g., Malone 2018a), the fact that this study and others (e.g., Carmichael and Kent ) do suggests a need to include Gini as an additional threat measure in social control studies. Finally, the varying effects of black population size at different levels of crime suggest that future CCW and social control studies may also need to consider the multiple facets of racial threat theory—especially as approached by King et al.…”

“…For instance, in each of the previously cited studies-which respectively examine such diverse topics as the number of juveniles sentenced to life in prison, the presence of the death penalty, total adult imprisonments, the severity of drug laws, and police strength-the authors test and find support for the speculation that large or expanding racial or ethnic minority groups in a jurisdiction inherently threaten the political and social dominance of majority whites (Bobo and Hutchings 1996). In line with the predictions of minority threat theorists (Blumer 1958), whites eventually react to these perceived threats by electing and lobbying politicians who are amenable to implementing more punitive social controls directed at minorities (Malone 2018a).…”

“…() find that female legislators are in fact more inclined to support gun control measures (i.e., banning the sale/transfer of assault weapons, requiring background checks for gun sales between private individuals, requiring licenses for the possession of any gun, and maintaining and strengthening existing firearm laws) than their male counterparts included in the survey. Studies by Malone (2018a), Mixon and Gibson (), and Yates and Fording () also back the assertion that female legislators and governors favor gun control and less punitive approaches to crime control in general. Considered in tandem, the previous studies suggest and this research hypothesizes that states with larger percentages of women in the state legislature and states with female governors will be less likely to have more permissive CCW laws (H3 and H4).…”

“…Police departments and governments whose jurisdictions have higher official crime rates may be less effective and unable to properly safeguard its citizens (Malone 2018a, 2018b). Expectedly, previous research finds that localities with relatively few police officers, higher levels of crime, and higher levels of fear of crime have higher rates of firearm demand and applications for concealed carry licenses (Gau ; Kleck and Kovandzic ; McDowall and Loftin ; Young, McDowall, and Loftin ).…”