There’s a new reason your neighbors bought a gun — gun culture 3.0

Rumors and conspiracy theories in the wake of Hurricane Helene came armed and dangerous: Government aid was green light for confiscation of goods; the funds had immediately dry; the storm itself had been designed by the government to benefit Kamala Harris’ campaign. Meterologists have suffered death threats. In North Carolina, FEMA workers have stopped knocking on doors for fear that members of the militia are following them. In Tennessee, a church volunteer-group stood between federal aid and angry locals with guns drawn. And at least one arrest, of a man armed with a rifle and a handgun, took place in North Carolina.

The paranoia in hurricane land, with its undercurrent of violence, is just the latest sign of a new wrinkle in American gun ownership that scholars have begun to describe as gun culture 3.0. Version 1.0 is hunting-based firearms ownership, often animated by a mythologized Western frontier. Gun culture 2.0 is geared toward self-defense, driven by overwhelming concerns about violent crime that emerged in the 1960s. For years, gun-owning Americans have told polls that the main reason they own guns is to protect oneself in dangerous situations.

But that broad motivation masks a shift in what many — though not all — gun owners now feel they need to protect. Borrowing from the militia movement, which iidentifies government tyranny as a key reason for gun ownershipGun culture 3.0 refers to the perceived political threats unleashed by those no longer invested in the usual guardrails – either rogue government agents or rogue private individuals.

Of course, gun culture 3.0 raises the question of what will happen after November 5th. Regardless of what the American electorate does on Election Day, it’s hard to imagine a scenario that doesn’t allow for violence.

In fact, it has already started.

In Arizona, where I live, Democratic Party Office in Tempe has been shot three times in the past two months — and closed this month, its staff worn out by the threat of sprayed bullets. In Pima countyThe Democratic office has restored its business hours in light of the violent threats. Poll workers scared for their lives are so commonplace now that the change hasn’t become news.

Meanwhile, two assassination attempts against former President Trump are almost unremarkable. Even the first near miss failed to register – a single survey Taken in the following days, it found that about 30 percent of Biden’s supporters (he was still in the race) downplayed the seriousness of the situation, suggesting the attempt may have been staged. A similar share of Republicans feel the same way about mass shootings.

Political violence and threats appear to be a feature, not a bug, of American politics.

Although gun owners are slightly more likely to believe that political violence is justified than their non-gun-owning counterparts, they they are no more likely to express a willingness to engage in such violence. However, there is evidence that certain subgroups of gun owners may be. Conformable in a recent study42% of assault weapon owners say political violence could be justified, as do 56% of gun owners who carry all the time or most of the time.

Such attitudes betray a right-wing distrust of government and a tenacious embrace of the Second Amendment. And yet, the same study reported that 44 percent of a different but potentially overlapping subgroup—new gun owners—also agreed that political violence could be justified. New gun owners are disproportionately women and people of color and tend to be liberal compared to existing gun owners. And they are part of an emerging gun culture 3.0.

In fact, a study published this summer in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that new gun owners are far more likely to be motivated by political concerns about force protection than other issues: They want protection during rallies and demonstrations and are concerned in especially violence from people who do not share their political beliefs. Black gun owners — old or new — are especially concerned about police violence.

This data suggests that Americans across the spectrum are turning to firearms as a tool of last resort to regain — as “stupid feminist” and new gun owner Roxane Gay recently put it — “ways to not feel out of control.” And our divisive and mistrustful politics is driving them there.

Some believe that political violence resolves itself, it does “his worst enemy”, because the reaction it provokes renews people’s commitment to civilization and a fundamental unity, despite our differences. But waiting for political violence to shock Americans back from the brink cannot be the only way to stop the division and fear behind gun culture 3.0.

In Tennessee, when armed antagonists approached aid workers after Hurricane Helene, the woman who stepped between them listened. “People just need to be heard,” she told a reporter, “I said, ‘I hear you.’ ” But she also emphasized what they could see for themselves: Storm victims are being helped, not exploited.

CAN depolarize everyday lifecalling out divisive behavior and labeling misinformation for what it is, even among our political allies, and working – no matter how hard – to approach those on ‘the other side’ with curiosity. Maybe even compassion.

Neither gun ownership nor gun limits will address the underlying fear and polarization fueling gun culture 3.0. We need to deal with our withered capacity to live with each other.

Jennifer Carlson is the founding director of the Center for the Study of Guns in Society at Arizona State University and a 2022 MacArthur Fellow.