Analysis of the data revealed that native southerners tend to express a greater support for defensive violence than other respondents. Age was a negative predictor of support, while income, education, and Protestant religion was positively related to these attitudes. Also, white native southerners were likely to harbor racial prejudice. In contrast to defensive violence support, age was a strong positive prediction of white hostility including rural native and Protestants, toward racial integration, while education and racism were negatively related. In general, white native southerners were more politically conservative than other Americans, although this regional difference was rather modest. There was no significant regional variation in hunting once the effects of other strong sociodemographic predictors were held constant, Sociodemographic predictors, such as male gender, income, and age, were positively related to firearms ownership. Furthermore, persons previously victimized by interpersonal violence were prone to own firearms. In general, these results support some cultural arguments, but at the same time indicate that such factors account for only a small portion of the regional disparity in gun ownership. The theoretical implications of these mixed findings are discussed, and several directions for future research on the distribution of firearms are suggested. 2 tables and 34 references