Gender, race, and region clearly influence the issue of gun control. In relation to gun ownership, men are five times more likely than women to own guns (Gallup). Moreover, in a survey where participants were asked whether it is more important to support the protection of gun rights or gun control, men support gun rights at a rate of 57% while women do so at 37% (Pew Research Center). Having established that gun rights are more associated with males, there is also a differentiation between race and region. 50% of white men own guns whereas only 34% of non-white men do, and white southern men are the most likely to own a gun at 61% (Gallup). With that said, the numbers about the changing social dynamic for this group are very pertinent as they …show more content…
amend. II, sec. 3). Then, when the south eventually lost the war, it seemed as though this guarantee ensured in the Bill of Rights was ineffectual, and they were stuck in the same old cycle of following rules that were harmful to them and feeling powerless to speak up politically with the suppression of Democratic politicians during Reconstruction. The Reconstruction Era changes only further added to this oppression, so the culture clung onto what gave them power originally: the assurance that they could protest Congressional wrongdoing (the preamble of the Second Amendment), the guarantee of some power symbolism (guns), and the ability to still have a power that had been historically theirs (the claim of racial superiority).
Primarily, this attachment is due to the fact that the Southern mentality is one of pride, resilience, and heritage that is largely inherited from Scots-Irish ancestors (Gladwell 170). The original settlers of the South primarily came from the borderlands of Scotland and Ireland where herdsmen and clan dynamics were common and influenced the overall attitude of the populations. In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell argues