In Washington Monthly, Nationhood Lab director Colin Woodard outlines the findings in the project’s recent analysis of the geography of gun violence
The online piece focused on new research published June 6 examining detailed polling about gun ownership and attitudes toward different types of proposed gun control measures. The research showed correlations between these factors and the degree of gun violence safety or lack thereof in each region. It was itself a follow-up to a detailed analysis of the geography of gun violence published at Nationhood Lab in late April which received national attention, including a viral article Woodard wrote in Politico summarizing the findings.
The work examines the effects of the regional differences using the historically-based regional model first described in Woodard’s 2011 history, American Nations, that is based on First Settler effects and the geography of colonization.
Woodard noted some encouraging news in the data: majorities of Americans in every region support implementation of most of the gun reform measures polled and — rebutting an NRA talking point — there is no constituencies in any region for a total ban on all firearms. “Americans may be nations apart in gun violence,” Woodard wrote, “but we’re a lot closer together when it comes to doing something about it.”
Nationhood Lab, a project at Salve Regina University’s Pell Center, examines regional issues in American life and is developing and testing a revised civic national story for the 21st century United States tied to the ideals in the Declaration.