Research has long documented the fact that sensitive items on surveys are subject to relatively high levels of item response refusal, but the role played by respondent characteristics in shaping who refuses is underexplored. The present study integrates this methodological literature with a growing body of research concerned with the racializa-tion of attitudes about gun ownership and policy among Whites in order to address this question. Specifically, this project investigates how racial attitudes influence survey item response refusal on items about gun ownership. Analyses of four distinct nationally representative samples suggest that racially conservative White respondents are more likely to refuse to respond to items concerned with gun ownership net of a host of relevant controls. Implications for the measurement of racial attitudes and gun-related survey questions are discussed.