Generational views on guns?

The Silent Generation, the Baby Boomer Generation, Generation-X, the Millennial Generation (or Generation-Y) and the Pivotal Generation (Generation Z)
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vincecate
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Generational views on guns?

Post by vincecate »

John, have you ever found any data about attitudes toward gun ownership or control in the different generations?

In Anguilla's 1967-69 revolution people got guns and learned how to use them. Defense was their personal responsibility. For years after this there was almost no crime. But in the last 20 years it has been very hard to get a legal gun and mostly criminals have them. Now crime is something for the police. We have far more crime. I wonder if the different generations have predictable views about guns. Do they?

John
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Re: Generational views on guns?

Post by John »

vincecate wrote: > John, have you ever found any data about attitudes toward gun
> ownership or control in the different generations?

> In Anguilla's 1967-69 revolution people got guns and learned how
> to use them. Defense was their personal responsibility. For years
> after this there was almost no crime. But in the last 20 years it
> has been very hard to get a legal gun and mostly criminals have
> them. Now crime is something for the police. We have far more
> crime. I wonder if the different generations have predictable
> views about guns. Do they?
I've never done any research on attitudes towards gun control or gun
ownership, but at least in the United States I don't have the
impression that it's generational at all. There are regions in the
midwest where gun ownership is widespread and considered to be a
constitutional right. There are regions on the east and west coasts
where gun control is the norm, and gun owners are considered to be
evil perverts. So, as far as I know, the attitudes towards guns are
geographical, rather than generational.

CrosstimbersOkie
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Re: Generational views on guns?

Post by CrosstimbersOkie »

It's definitely generational as much or more than geographical. I say that as a federal law enforcement officer who's been deep in the political fight to pass shall-issue statutes at the state level. This movement reached critical mass in the early 1990s, just when the youngest Boomers and oldest Gen-Xers were becoming politically effective. In fact, 1995 was the year when 'the dike broke,' the dike against citizens' being restricted from having the legal means to defend their own lives. It has gained momentum since, but is beginning to slow as younger Gen-Xers and Mellinnials gain influence.

This is pretty much to be expected. Look back at the gun laws enacted in the 1960's & 70s when the GIs & Silents held the reigns. Naturally, they trust government/society to take care of them in every way. Naturally, the cops will be effective in combating crime to the point that they will never have to protect themselves. The GIs built the system after all, and the Silents trust experts to solve society's problems. The criminal justice system is "expert."

Not so with Boomers. They know damned sure that the system can't be trusted, and if it can they'll sabotage the damn thing so it won't work By God! Gen-X grew up during a time when nothing worked except the Individual, so it's only natural that it fully understands that "God made man, but Samuel Colt made them equal."

CrosstimbersOkie
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Re: Generational views on guns?

Post by CrosstimbersOkie »

Here's a neat graphic on the subject.

http://mylegalheat.wordpress.com/2014/0 ... e-winning/

John
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Re: Generational views on guns?

Post by John »

The article you reference certainly makes it clear that the number of
states with right-to-carry laws has been increasing since 1986.

However, it still remains to be shown that this change is generational
trend or something else.

For example, technology trends are not generational. Things like the
speed of combat aircraft, the total amount of energy used, the total
amount of energy used per capita, and the power of computers all grow
exponentially over time, irrespective of generational changes.

The number of right-to-carry states would not seem to be a technology
trend, but it might be.

For example, the divorce rate was around 0.5% in the 1850s, and began
growing exponentially over time. For decades, statisticians wondered
when it would stop growing, since it would have to stop, since it
couldn't go over 100%. It finally leveled off in the 1980s at around
50%. I believe that the exponential increase in the divorce rate is
driven by technology, in the form of electric appliances, TV dinners,
and other technological advances that permit a woman to leave the home
for most of the day.

So maybe the increase in right-to-carry laws is somehow related to
technology. For example, maybe it's somehow related to lower costs in
manufacturing guns and ammunition.

Or maybe it's generational. But in that case, it should be possible
to find some similar trend in the early 1900s that similarly applies
to the Lost Generation

John

gerald
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Re: Generational views on guns?

Post by gerald »

"Martin Armstrong Warns American Civil Unrest Is Starting Right On Schedule"

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-04-1 ... t-schedule

We have been warning that 2014 is the beginning of a new cycle that will see a highly unusual convergence between our domestic (civil unrest & revolution) data and our international war model. Both converge for the first time since the 1700s when there were US and French Revolutions and the fall of monarchy. This was the topic at our Cycle of War Conference (see also special report).

The civil unrest will develop first outside the USA and turn up more aggressively in the USA after 2015.75. Nonetheless, it still begins in 2014 for the USA as well. We are starting to see this in the West where memories of previous events still linger deep wounds from 1992.

John does Armstrong's positing on events have merit?

John
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Re: Generational views on guns?

Post by John »

This "new American civil war" idea seems to be something promoted by
both the loony left and the loony right as a way of proving why the
other side is loony. As I've said many times in the past, I see only
one fault line that might lead to conflict more serious than isolated
incidents, and that's "Latinos vs Yanquis," but even that fault line
appears to have softened since the beginning of the financial crisis.

CrosstimbersOkie
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Location: Kansas City

Re: Generational views on guns?

Post by CrosstimbersOkie »

gerald wrote:"Martin Armstrong Warns American Civil Unrest Is Starting Right On Schedule"

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-04-1 ... t-schedule

We have been warning that 2014 is the beginning of a new cycle that will see a highly unusual convergence between our domestic (civil unrest & revolution) data and our international war model. Both converge for the first time since the 1700s when there were US and French Revolutions and the fall of monarchy. This was the topic at our Cycle of War Conference (see also special report).

The civil unrest will develop first outside the USA and turn up more aggressively in the USA after 2015.75. Nonetheless, it still begins in 2014 for the USA as well. We are starting to see this in the West where memories of previous events still linger deep wounds from 1992.

John does Armstrong's positing on events have merit?

He's ignoring the 1930s. Remember Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath"? Have you ever read Studs Terkel's "Hard Times"? This is the '30s all over. No doubt this is the usual pattern for early crisis periods. And it may erupt into civil war if there is no external threat--of which there are plenty.

CrosstimbersOkie
Posts: 130
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 4:22 am
Location: Kansas City

Re: Generational views on guns?

Post by CrosstimbersOkie »

Here are interesting discussions (check the links) on generational attitudes and guns.

http://www.grantcunningham.com/blog_fil ... oting.html
I've written before about the lack of welcome given to the Millennial Generation (and the later members of Gen X) by the shooting community. Their tattoos and piercings put off some, while their voting patterns and interest in social justice causes make others mad. As I've said, they look and think differently from the generations which came before — and that makes many people very nervous.

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