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A new study finds that on the whole, gun owners in the United States are not meaningfully different from non-gun owners in their support for democratic principles. The research, published in the journal Political Behavior, reveals that while gun owners show slightly more support for some democratic norms, a notable divide between those who voted for Donald Trump and those who did not obscures any clear trend for the group on other key measures.
Researchers conducted the study to investigate a prevalent narrative in public discourse that describes gun-owning citizens as being hostile to democracy. This idea gained traction following several armed protests at government buildings in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election. However, this popular claim stands in contrast to ideas central to American gun culture, which often frames firearm ownership as a fundamental component of democratic citizenship and a necessary protection of constitutional rights.
This apparent contradiction presented a scientific question: are gun owners less supportive of democratic norms than people who do not own guns? The researchers theorized that because gun owners as a group benefit from the protections of a democratic system, they would likely be just as supportive of its norms as their non-owning peers. They also suspected that gun owners are not a uniform group and that other identities, such as political affiliation, could create divisions in their attitudes.
To explore these questions, the research team performed a statistical analysis of public opinion data from two large, nationally representative surveys: the 2020 American National Election Studies and the 2016 General Social Survey. These surveys asked a wide range of Americans about their backgrounds, political views, and whether they owned a firearm. The analysis compared the responses of gun owners and non-gun owners on a series of questions related to democratic principles, while accounting for other factors like age, gender, education, and political party identification.
The study measured support for democracy in several ways. One set of questions assessed attitudes toward core democratic functions, such as the importance of checks and balances between branches of government, whether elected officials should face consequences for misconduct, and the need for citizens to agree on basic facts. Another set of questions from the 2016 survey gauged support for civil liberties, specifically the right to organize public meetings and demonstrations against the government. A final group of questions examined support for a free press, an institution considered essential to a healthy democracy.
The findings showed that on several measures, gun owners expressed slightly stronger support for democratic norms than non-gun owners. Specifically, gun owners were more likely to support governmental checks and balances, to believe that officials should face consequences for misconduct, and to agree that it is important for citizens to have a shared understanding of basic facts. The analysis of the 2016 data also showed that gun owners were more supportive of the right to organize public protests against the government.
However, the analysis revealed a different pattern on other questions. There was no significant difference between gun owners and non-gun owners in their views on whether a president should be constrained by Congress and the courts. Similarly, the two groups did not differ on the appropriateness of a president investigating political rivals. There was also no overall difference in their support for the news media’s ability to act as a check on government power.
The researchers suggested that these particular issues, which were prominent during the presidency of Donald Trump, activated partisan identities more strongly than gun-owner identity. They hypothesized that gun owners were split on these topics, with their attitudes being pulled in opposite directions based on their support for the former president. This split would make the group appear neutral or average when analyzed as a whole.
To test this idea, the researchers conducted a more focused analysis, dividing gun owners into two subgroups: those who voted for Donald Trump in 2020 and those who did not. This secondary analysis produced a much clearer picture. On the very issues where gun owners as a whole showed no difference from non-owners, the two subgroups of gun owners were starkly divided.
Gun owners who voted for Donald Trump were significantly less likely to express concern about a president not being restricted by Congress and the courts. They were also more likely to believe it is appropriate for a president to investigate political rivals. In addition, this subgroup of gun owners showed far less support for a free press compared to gun owners who did not vote for Trump. These opposing views effectively cancelled each other out in the initial analysis, masking the deep divisions within the gun-owning population.
The study also confirmed that gun owners in general report lower levels of trust in the media to report news fully and accurately compared to non-owners. This distrust was even more pronounced among gun owners who voted for Trump. The researchers noted that this finding is consistent with frequent criticisms of the news media by conservative political figures and organizations. The analysis indicated that it was support for a specific political figure, Donald Trump, rather than general Republican party identification, that was most strongly associated with these attitudes.
The study has some limitations. The researchers acknowledge that their measures capture support for democratic principles in the abstract. An individual might agree with a general democratic norm on a survey but hold conflicting views about specific actions that threaten democracy in the real world. The study also did not examine attitudes toward political violence, which the authors suggest would be an important area for future investigation, especially given recent political events.
The study, “Democracy at Gunpoint: American Gun Owners and Attitudes Towards Democracy,” was authored by Alexandra T. Middlewood, Rachel E. Finnell, and Abigail Vegter.
