Implicit Resentment and the Gun Policy Preferences of White Americans

Abstract

Although several studies have examined race differences in gun‐related attitudes, researchers are only beginning to explore how racial attitudes might contribute to the gun policy preferences of white Americans. While many white Americans tend to oppose firearm restrictions, it is unclear whether racialized policy preferences tend to support these leanings. Our analysis of national data from Wave 4 of the Baylor Religion Survey (n = 1,063) indicates that white Americans who report more implicit resentment are more likely to support policies that would increase the number of armed people in schools and allow more people to carry concealed firearms and less likely to support policies that would limit the possession of handguns, semiautomatic weapons, and high‐capacity magazines. Interestingly, white Americans who report more implicit resentment are also less likely to support policies that would expand gun safety programs and background checks that include mental health screenings. These associations persisted with adjustments for age, gender, race or ethnicity, education, household income, marital status, the presence of children, religious identity, religiosity, political orientation, region of residence, and urban residence. We conclude that implicit resentment is consistently associated with less restrictive and more precarious gun policy preferences among white Americans. These patterns are noteworthy because they support the same general conclusion: white Americans who report more implicit resentment tend to want more guns in society with fewer legal restrictions related to access and safety.