Targeted advertising: documenting the emergence of Gun Culture 2.0 in Guns magazine, 1955–2019

AbstractThis study replicates Yamane, Ivory, and Yamane’s (Gun studies: interdisciplinary approaches to politics, policy, and practice, Routledge, New York, pp. 9–27, 2019) earlier analysis of the rise of self-defense in gun advertisements in The American Rifleman. It uses the same methodological procedures and applies them to a for-profit, general interest firearm magazine that has been continuously published for 65 years: Guns magazine. Like the earlier study, we hypothesize that the center of gravity in US gun culture has evolved over time from “Gun Culture 1.0,” the historic gun culture of hunting and recreational shooting, to “Gun Culture 2.0,” America’s contemporary defensive gun culture, an evolution reflected in the content of gun advertisements. The data show that the predominance of Gun Culture 1.0 themes in advertising persists through the 1980s and into the 1990s, when the center of gravity of gun culture begins to shift decisively toward the Gun Culture 2.0 themes of personal protection/self-defense and concealed carry. This trend continues through the 1990s and 2000s, with the two emphases crossing-over in the 2010s. As reflected in advertising, in addition to other indicators such as self-reported reasons for gun ownership, Gun Culture 2.0 is now America’s dominant and still expanding core gun culture today.