The aim of this research is to investigate the increasingly positive attitudes towards weapon ownership in Italy, attitudes that have recently been reflected in a recent relaxation of the regulations of weapon ownership. The rise of these attitudes has accompanied a rise in immigration into Italy, even as the overall crime rate has fallen in recent years. We propose that a fear of immigrants drives the motivation to own deadly weapons, but that not all individuals will be susceptible to this fear. Instead, we propose that individuals who are characterized by an acute or chronic need for cognitive closure (NCC), or the desire for epistemic certainty, will be more likely to approve of weapon ownership in the face of the rising social uncertainty that accompanies the rise in immigration. We will test this hypothesis in eight studies arranged in three blocks. In Block 1 (Studies 1, 2), we will test the basic relationship between NCC and approval of weapon ownership and fear of immigrants; NCC will be both assessed via self-report and be manipulated experimentally. In Block 2 (Studies 3-6), we will test several potential mediators of the association between NCC and approval of weapon ownership. Each mediator reflects different ways in which Italians can position themselves towards Italian culture. We posit that high NCC individuals will identify with powerful ingroups, such as represented by fellow Italians, in part as these ingroups can protect the stability of their knowledge. Consequently, they should be more likely to approve of taking up arms in order to defend their ingroup from an outgroup that is perceived to be dangerous, in our case, immigrants. In Block 3 (Studies 7,8), we will test if these attitudes can be reversed when high NCC individuals are presented with positive information about immigrants: if the fear of immigrants drives the motivation to own weapons, then the motivation should be reduced when this fear is also reduced.
The aim of this research is to understand how, and why, attitudes towards owning weapons have become more favorable among Italians. Although weapon ownership could be perceived to be reasonable when individuals live in a dangerous society that has little government oversight, this is clearly not the case in Italy. Indeed, crime rates in Italy have actually decreased over the past several years (ISTAT, 2019). Instead, approval of weapon ownership has increased with the rise of immigration into Italy; we will investigate the possibility that these factors are related.
However, our greater aim is to propose a social psychological theory that can help explain the increasingly favorable view of owning deadly weapons. This research builds upon, and extends, previous research that has found associations between the NCC and negative attitudes towards immigrants (e.g., Baldner & Pierro, 2019; Brizi et al., 2016). This previous research found that negative attitudes towards immigrants can increase with the NCC; in particular, this effect can be explained by the general tendency of high NCC individuals to support powerful groups as, for instance, national cultures. The current research can replicate this previous research while simultaneously expanding our conclusions into a new area of research. Understanding the motivations for owning deadly weapons is critical, in light of research that has found that gun ownership is associated with increases in crime in the United States (Monuteaux et al., 2015; Moore & Bergner, 2016). Even if individuals purchase deadly weapons in part due to fears of immigrants, these weapons can naturally be used in many contexts; consequentially, it is possible that the recent trend of a decreasing crime could diminish or be reversed.
This research also advances our knowledge on the relationship between NCC and attitudes towards change. In one sense, the NCC can be conceived of as a dislike of change (see Roets et al., 2015), in that changes in our social environments can upset the stability of our knowledge. In this case, changes to the established weapons regulations and an increase in immigration both represent change; consequently, we might expect that high NCC individuals would disapprove of both new weapon regulations and immigrants. More recent research (Baldner et al., 2019), has more precisely argued that the NCC reflects a dislike of change that originates from an outgroup. In our case, immigrants represent a vivid outgroup that bring with them the potential that Italian culture should change; we would thus expect that high NCC individuals would particularly disapprove of immigrants. On the other hand, relaxed weapon regulations could instead be approved of by high NCC individuals, as they could be perceived to strengthen ingroup members. In other words, assessing the relationships between NCC and different types of change can further advance our knowledge on how NCC relates to the concept of change itself.
This research, in particular the studies in Block 3, also raise the possibility that attitudes towards weapon ownership can be reversed; this represents a critical step in the research process. Although understanding how these attitudes arise, and how they can be predicted, is itself very important, given the dangerous nature of widespread weapon ownership, research should also seek to understand how these attitudes can be changed. In this research, we can begin this process in ways that are consistent with our overall theory: if a fear of immigrants motivates weapon ownership, then we could reduce ownership if this fear is also reduced. Indeed, there has been some research (Baldner & Pierro, 2019) that has shown that it is possible to reduce fear of immigrants in the ways described in the Block 3 studies; in this research we can extend these findings into an area of particular importance.
We do not know of any research that has investigated motivations towards weapon ownership in Italy; however, this issue is of particular importance given the recent legislative changes in weapon regulation. Indeed, if weapon ownership is linked to the fear of immigration, then we would expect both factors to continue to increase. Likewise, the crime rate could also increase insofar as weapon ownership and the crime rate are related (e.g., Monuteaux et al., 2015; Moore & Bergner, 2016). Given that the relaxation of weapon regulations is a very new change, this research represents an opportunity to study this issue before large changes can be observed in Italian society.
In sum, this research can advance our knowledge in several ways: it can propose a social psychological theory of gun ownership which is consistent with previous research on NCC; it can further our knowledge on how NCC generally relates to change; it can respond to an issue of particular importance in Italy; and it can propose ways in which attitudes towards weapon ownership could be reversed.