Gun Control Article Analysis

The article by Robert Jiobu and Timothy Curry, titled Lack of Confidence in the Federal Government and the Ownership of Firearms, is a research article created in 2001 and found in the Social Science Quarterly journal. This article is dedicated to proving that people with less confidence in the government are more likely to own firearms. In order to do so, Jiobu and Curry gathered data from the General Social Survey and several national polls. Due to the extensive means of collecting evidence, credentials of the authors and effectiveness of achieving their purpose, this article was commendably written without faults. Jiobu and Curry begin the article by stating they believe there is an association between distrust of the government and …show more content…
In an attempt to understand the reasons for gun ownership, they claim it could promote a sense of dominance over supposed threats if they believe authorities cannot defend them and it could give gun owners more independence over their lives. This ideology is that of deviance through social control. It is because the control theory states “the lack of control causes deviance.” So, gun owners do not believe the government has control of crime, therefore, it causes deviance which makes the untrusting more inclined to own a gun in order to protect themselves and their families from crime behavior (Thio 31). They tested their hypothesis with information from the General Social Survey while taking into account multiple characteristics of a gun owner. The researchers used a ballot system based on a variety of characteristics and subjects of the research were given a point for each characteristic that correlated with that of a gun owner. Through their research, they found that 23.3% of people with a lot of faith in the government did own firearms while 37.2% of people with no faith in the government had firearms. As a result of their research, Jiobu and Curry found that …show more content…
After collecting data from the General Social Survey and national polls, the two social scientists did find that people who found themselves questioning their confidence in the government were roughly 14% more likely to own a gun. As a result, the article calls for action of the government to establish better trust relations between its self and the people of the United States. With the amount of detailed research collected, qualifications of the authors and sheer force behind achieving their goal, Jiobu and Curry put together a memorable and effective piece of literature that proves one of many theories within the world of social