Date of Graduation

Winter 2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Doctor of Public Administration (DPA)

Department

Public Policy and Administration

Committee Chairperson

Mark Davis, PhD

Committee Member

Francis Atuahene, PhD

Committee Member

Christopher J. Przemieniecki, PhD

Abstract

With ample evidence demonstrating a link between low levels of gun regulation and high levels of firearm fatalities, it seems intuitive that Americans would want to increase the level of firearm regulation to bring down the level of violence. However, the target population, white males living in rural areas of the State of Indiana and practicing the Christian Evangelical Protestant tradition, display high levels of resistance to new firearm regulation. This study sought to explore that resistance through the lens of the rural gun culture with an interpretivist qualitative design using reflexive thematic analysis to answer the research question: How do rural firearm owners in Western Indiana construct meaning and express their beliefs about gun ownership, firearm culture, personal protection, and government regulation of firearms? It explored the research question by focusing on three areas of exploration: Why the participants own firearms? What does a social gun culture look like? And what are the participants’ opinions about public policy involving firearms? The study determined the number one reason the participants owned firearms was for protection—physical protection of themselves and their family, and for the protection of their way of life. The paper explored the concept of Masculine Protectionism, where the male head of the family fulfills the role of protector, and advanced the term Ideological Protectionism to describe the concept of owning guns to defend the rural conservative ideology against an ever-changing world. Ideological Protectionism was determined to be a key factor in the population’s emotional attachment to firearms.

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