| Abstract: | The representation of handguns by a sample of university students (n = 96) from one of the southern states of the US, was contrasted with that of a sample of university students in the UK (n = 100), employing ANOVA and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis. Exploring the structure of response, the findings showed little evidence for a common cross‐locational representation of handguns for the US and UK samples taken together. There was support for the existence of distinctive locational representations, some support for gender‐specific representations, and strong support for representations of handguns according to particular combinations of locality and gender. Representations of handguns by US males from the southern states were the most distinctive, complex and integrated in structure, bringing into question simplistic assumptions concerning the nature of an alleged ‘southern sub‐culture of violence’ or of a more general ‘gun culture’. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
