Which Americans support the Second Amendment? The answer depends on whether whites or blacks have the guns.

By Logan Strother and
Daniel Bennett November 24 at 7:00 AM

In Georgia, the recent race between Republican Brian Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams attracted its share of national attention — and not just because an Abrams victory would have made her the first nation’s first female black governor.

On Election Day, Fox News personality Laura Ingraham tweeted a story from the conservative news website the Daily Caller titled “Armed with Assault Rifles, Black Panthers March for Stacey Abrams.” The story prominently features photos of black men holding rifles and posing next to an Abrams campaign sign. Ingraham referred to the men sarcastically as “peace-loving, tolerant radicals.”

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In the past, Ingraham has supported gun rights and characterized the armed response from supporters of Cliven Bundy’s dispute with the Bureau of Land Management as “an act of civil disobedience.” But in this case, her response was different — even though the Black Panthers’ actions were legal under Georgia’s “open carry” law.

This seeming inconsistency illustrates an important feature of public support for constitutional protections. In short, public support depends on how much the public likes the person or group exercising these rights. Our research shows that Second Amendment rights are no different.

Here’s how we did our research

Between June 12 and June 22 of this year, we surveyed a sample of 1,013 Americans. The survey was fielded by Survey Sampling International/ResearchNow. SSI maintains a large online opt-in panel from which participants are recruited. This sample was recruited to be representative in terms of age, education, sex, race and region of the country.

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