19 April 2008

Firearms Owners and The Happiness Gap

Why are gun owners so happy?

"Americans with guns are neither a small nor downtrodden group. Nor are they "bitter." In 2006, 36% of gun owners said they were "very happy," while 9% were "not too happy." Meanwhile, only 30% of people without guns were very happy, and 16% were not too happy.

"In 1996, gun owners spent about 15% less of their time than nonowners feeling "outraged at something somebody had done." It's easy enough in certain precincts to caricature armed Americans as an angry and miserable fringe group. But it just isn't true. The data say that the people in the approximately 40 million American households with guns are generally happier than those people in households that don't have guns."

Neat stuff. I am particularly intrigued by the stats where more people who do not own firearms are feel outraged at things people have done than gun owners. Kind of flies against the stereotype we hear so often in MSM and in hearings before lawmakers time and time again, doesnt it?

Neat reading at Marginal Revolution.

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