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Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War!
Gun Owners Likelier to Distrust Government
NewsMax.com Wires
Friday, Aug. 17, 2001
COLUMBUS, Ohio - An Ohio State University study indicates that people who
distrust the government own guns in
greater proportion than those who expressed trust in at least one branch.
The study, published in the current issue of Social Science Quarterly, also
found government mistrust is
widespread, not just the characteristic of a small minority.
Associate sociology professors Robert Jiobu and Timothy Curry studied data
assembled for the General Social
Survey. The material was collected between 1988 and 1996 and included
interviews with 6,576 people.
We found that these people who don't have confidence in the government are
more likely to own guns, Jiobu
said.
Rick Pearson, president of the Illinois State Rifle Association, said he was
not surprised by the study
results because the government deserves citizens' distrust.
I would say this is probably historical in nature because a lot of time the
federal government, as well as
other governments, have done things to gun owners that they haven't liked
after they said they wouldn't do
it. Pearson cited New York as an example. They said if you register your
firearms, they wouldn't come and
get them and then they came and got them. The same is true of California.
The problem is that though no matter what happens, you wind up with some
bureaucrat who twists the intent of
the law.
Nearly half of those surveyed, 43.9 percent, said they had hardly any
confidence in one or more branches of
the federal government.
Of those who said they had a great deal of faith in the government, only 23
percent owned a firearm, while 37
percent of those who doubted the government owned one.
The researchers said the percentages held firm even making allowances for
such factors as political ideology,
gender, age, education, general fear of crime and whether the respondents had
been crime victims the preceding
year.
The results also held true through the three presidential administrations
spanned.
Curry suggested firearms give those who distrust government a sense of
empowerment.
For some people, guns represent freedom and the ability to protect
themselves, Curry said. Guns are seen as
a little bit of protection in an otherwise chaotic world.
Those who own guns and distrust the government may fear the government will
take away their rights or that it
will not be able to protect them.
Jiobu said efforts to control weapons sales may have the unintended effect of
encouraging some to stockpile
weapons.
We have to understand that for many people, the gun is an icon for evil and
violence, while for others that
same gun is an icon for democracy and personal empowerment, Curry said.
Until that is understood, neither
side of the debate will be able to understand how the other side can be so
blind to the 'truth.'
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