As I was reading the beginning of your post and looking at the figure, it seemed to me that it was inadequate in many ways, that while gun culture may have evolved as you noted, the arrows in the chart needed to point both ways. The boxes may highlight the predominant motivations for gun ownership over those periods - perhaps largely as a reflection of societal and cultural change - but each of those motivations have been there throughout. It is likely more insightful to see each of those boxes not as discrete, but as overlapping distributions.
Neither am I. But it is interesting to consider that each motive does not completely supplant the previous one. It may be that the modal motive shifts. It is probably even more complicated - not sure how how would capture it graphically.
Yes, I think we are seeing it the same. I have always tried to suggest that (a) self-defense was always a reason to own guns, (b) other motives continue to exist alongside self-defense today, and (c) the center of gravity (i.e., the modal motive) has shifted over time.
As I was reading the beginning of your post and looking at the figure, it seemed to me that it was inadequate in many ways, that while gun culture may have evolved as you noted, the arrows in the chart needed to point both ways. The boxes may highlight the predominant motivations for gun ownership over those periods - perhaps largely as a reflection of societal and cultural change - but each of those motivations have been there throughout. It is likely more insightful to see each of those boxes not as discrete, but as overlapping distributions.
I'm not good enough at graphics to capture the complexity!
Neither am I. But it is interesting to consider that each motive does not completely supplant the previous one. It may be that the modal motive shifts. It is probably even more complicated - not sure how how would capture it graphically.
Yes, I think we are seeing it the same. I have always tried to suggest that (a) self-defense was always a reason to own guns, (b) other motives continue to exist alongside self-defense today, and (c) the center of gravity (i.e., the modal motive) has shifted over time.
A double-barreled shotgun