14 DAY TRIAL // Investigators at the University of Manchester and Monash University have found in a new study that racism among white Americans is heavily correlated with higher opposition toward gun control regulation.
At the same time, people with racist tendencies are more likely to own and keep a gun in their homes.
In a paper published in the latest issue of the esteemed scientific journal PLoS ONE, the group analyzed data extracted from a representative sample of the white population in the United States. The team, led by UM expert Dr Kerry O'Brien, account for other factors that might influence the research, including political ideology, education and income.
“ Coming from countries with strong gun control policies, and a 30-fold lower rate of gun-related homicides, we found the arguments for opposing gun control counterintuitive and somewhat illogical,” O'Brien says.
For each one point increase in racism, measured from 1 to 5, the study found a 50 percent higher chance of respondents owning a gun, as well as a 28 percent increase in their support of policies that do not restrict gun ownership.
People in this group tend to exhibit a stronger racial bias, are politically and ideologically conservative, are more likely to oppose the government, and tend to come from southern states, e! Science News reports.