I think we can all agree that there is no monolithic "gun culture" in the United States. With 100,000,000 gun owners, it would be silly to assume that all of us are alike. Some of us own firearms for a variety of reasons, while others may be singularly focused on competitive shooting or self-defense. However, a new paper on the various varieties of gun ownership from researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health offers a grossly simplistic view of gun owners, and ultimately serves as just another attack on Second Amendment activism by anti-gun academics.
Using data on gun-related behaviors including hunting, NRA membership, magazine subscriptions, handgun and long gun purchases, and certain gun laws, the researchers show that American gun owners vary widely in the symbolic meaning they find in firearms and how they use them.
Over the last 20 years, at the national level, firearm recreation has dwindled and self-defense has expanded, even as a distinct culture of Second Amendment political advocacy has sprung up, the researchers found.
A culture of Second Amendment advocacy has sprung up just in the past 20 years? That'll be news to longtime Second Amendment advocates who've been fighting to secure our right to keep and bear arms for far longer than that. .....
It should hardly be surprising that beyond those who may just regard the 2A as being for recreation and self defense, there can also be actually a majority who see it as vitally essential for freedoms. It is therefore predictable to see that latter category often being particularly evident within some of the most repressive states regarding the 2A such as CA, NJ, NY, MA and sadly now, even VA. The battle is being fought all the time against the blatant deprivation of rights, freedom and liberty.