Reexamining the Effect of Mass Shootings on Public Support for Gun Control

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 1555-1565 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J Barney ◽  
Brian F Schaffner
Keyword(s):  
Public Support ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Mass Shootings

scholarly journals Support for same-sex marriage after the Pulse nightclub shooting: Evidence from a quasi-experiment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Hispanic Americans ◽  
Empirical Test ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
White Americans ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Mass Shooting ◽  
And Gender

Multiple studies find that exposure to news about mass shootings does little to increase public support for gun control. But are mass shootings able to shape public support for other policy preferences? In this paper, I conduct an empirical test of the effect of quasi-random exposure to news about the Pulse nightclub shooting – a mass shooting that occurred at an LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando, FL in June 2016 - on public support for same-sex marriage. Leveraging data from Wave 55 of The American Panel Survey (TAPS), I find that quasi-random exposure to news about the shooting increased public support for same sex-marriage by 10 points. Subgroup analyses indicate that the largest increases in support for same-sex marriage were among moderates, liberals and White Americans, while minimal increases in support were detected among conservatives and Hispanic Americans. The findings indicate that mass shootings may shape public support for policies that are related to victim characteristics such as sexual and gender identity, even if they do not shape broader support for gun control.

Firepower

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Lacombe
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
National Rifle Association ◽  
Powerful Interest ◽  
Active Base

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is one of the most powerful interest groups in America, and has consistently managed to defeat or weaken proposed gun regulations — even despite widespread public support for stricter laws and the prevalence of mass shootings and gun-related deaths. This book provides an unprecedented look at how this controversial organization built its political power and deploys it on behalf of its pro-gun agenda. Taking readers from the 1930s to the age of Donald Trump, the book traces how the NRA's immense influence on national politics arises from its ability to shape the political outlooks and actions of its followers. The book draws on nearly a century of archival records and surveys to show how the organization has fashioned a distinct worldview around gun ownership and has used it to mobilize its supporters. It reveals how the NRA's cultivation of a large, unified, and active base has enabled it to build a resilient alliance with the Republican Party, and examines why the NRA and its members formed an important constituency that helped fuel Trump's unlikely political rise. The book sheds vital new light on how the NRA has grown powerful by mobilizing average Americans, and how it uses its GOP alliance to advance its objectives and shape the national agenda.

Public Support for Policies to Reduce School Shootings: A Moral-Altruistic Model

2020 ◽  
pp. 002242782095320
Author(s):  
Alexander L. Burton ◽  
Justin T. Pickett ◽  
Cheryl Lero Jonson ◽  
Francis T. Cullen ◽  
Velmer S. Burton
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
School Safety ◽  
Public Support ◽  
School Shootings ◽  
Mass Murder ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
School Crime ◽  
Moral Intuitions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Altruistic Fear

Objectives: The recurring mass murder of students in schools has sparked an intense debate about how best to increase school safety. Because public opinion weighs heavily in this debate, we examine public views on how best to prevent school shootings. We theorize that three moral-altruistic factors are likely to be broadly relevant to public opinion on school safety policies: moral intuitions about harm, anger about school crime, and altruistic fear. Methods: We commissioned YouGov to survey 1,100 Americans to explore support for a range of gun control and school programming policies and willingness to pay for school target hardening. We test the ability of a moral-altruistic model to explain public opinion, while controlling for the major predictors of gun control attitudes found in the social sciences. Results: The public strongly supports policies that restrict who can access guns, expand school anti-bullying and counseling programs, and target-harden schools. While many factors influence attitudes toward gun-related policies specifically, moral-altruistic factors significantly increase support for all three types of school safety policies. Conclusions: The public favors a comprehensive policy response and is willing to pay for it. Support for prevention efforts reflects moral intuitions about harm, anger about school crime, and altruistic fear.

Introduction

Dangerous Art ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
James Harold
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Violent Video Games ◽  
National Rifle Association ◽  
Works Of Art ◽  
Gays And Lesbians

This book takes up the problems that we run into when we judge works of art to be morally good or bad. This might seem like an unserious thing to do. In public discourse, such judgments are often born of prejudice or are mere devices for political scapegoating. For example, former senator Jesse Helms’s attacks on the alleged immorality of Mapplethorpe’s photography seem to have been grounded in his hatred and fear of gays and lesbians; leaders of the National Rifle Association routinely raise moral concerns about violent video games as means to distract people and to undermine public support for gun control. We ought not to take such moral judgments very seriously....

Public interest in gun control in the USA

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. i16-i17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua D Niforatos ◽  
Alexander R Zheutlin ◽  
Richard M Pescatore
Keyword(s):  
Public Interest ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Google Trends ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Inflection Points ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Mass Shooting

To characterise public interest in gun control in the USA using internet search queries, we undertook a cross-sectional study of the relative popularity Google Trends searchers for ‘Gun Control’, ‘Second Amendment’, ‘National Rifle Association’ and ‘Mass Shooting’ from May 2015 to December 2018. 740 weeks of data were queried. Graphed data revealed nine major inflection points. Seven of the nine (78%) major inflection points were associated with mass shootings, while two of the nine (22%) were related to political events by either the president of the USA or a presidential candidate. Our exploration of Google Trends shows the frequency of national searches related to gun control peaks with mass shootings over a 1–2-week period and then stabilises to nominal relative popularity thereafter suggesting a need to engage the public on gun control during ‘trough’ periods in order to sustain national interest and dialogue.

US red flag gun laws passage possible pre-election

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
El Paso ◽  
Gun Violence ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Content Type ◽  
White House ◽  
Legislative Action ◽  
Red Flag ◽  
Gun Laws

Significance Schumer's move follows three recent mass shootings, one on July 28 in Gilroy, California and two within hours of each other on August 3-4 in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas. President Donald Trump has proposed legislative action to address gun violence, as have lawmakers in both chambers of Congress, while the public is also issuing fresh demands for federal action. Impacts The House and Senate could be recalled from recess in coming weeks to address gun control. The White House will investigate gun control measures Trump might introduce by executive powers. Trump will push for greater mental health services provision to combat gun violence.

scholarly journals Fighting National Amnesia: Profiling Public Attention to Mass Shootings in The United States

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miles Chandler
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Decay Length ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Search Volume ◽  
Mass Shooting

This study aims to identify factors that shape public perception and emotional response to mass shootings in the United States. I suggest that patterns of media coverage inform public consciousness and collective emotion. Newsworthiness and gatekeeping theories assert that school or prejudicial shootings and those with more victims are reported on at higher rates. Literature on racial and immigrant bias in media demonstrates that non-white shooters also generate more discourse. The directed construction of shootings and the affective public responses they generate align well with the concept of a “moral panic.” Using all valid cases from the Mother Jones Mass Shootings:1982-2019 dataset which align temporally with Google Trends data, I analyze the volume and decay rate of search topics “mass shooting,” “gun control,” and “open carry,” following US mass shootings from 2004-2019. Shootings with more victims predict a higher volume of searches for “mass shooting,” and shorter search periods for “gun control” and “open carry.” Shootings with educational and religious targets had no significant effects on search patterns. Workplace shootings result in longer search periods for “mass shooting,” and shorter periods for “gun control.” Non-white shooters generate shorter search decay for “open carry.” The results support theories of media gatekeeping, suggesting events with more casualties generate more intense public attention. The consistent negative correlation between search volume and decay length suggests that sensational responses to shootings are not sustainable over long periods of time and prohibit pragmatically addressing mass shootings.

scholarly journals The psychology of guns: risk, fear, and motivated reasoning

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph M. Pierre
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Bias ◽  
Motivated Reasoning ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Psychological Perspective ◽  
Middle Ground ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
Culture Of Fear ◽  
Shared Culture ◽  
Gun Debate

AbstractThe gun debate in America is often framed as a stand-off between two immutable positions with little potential to move ahead with meaningful legislative reform. Attempts to resolve this impasse have been thwarted by thinking about gun ownership attitudes as based on rational choice economics instead of considering the broader socio-cultural meanings of guns. In this essay, an additional psychological perspective is offered that highlights how concerns about victimization and mass shootings within a shared culture of fear can drive cognitive bias and motivated reasoning on both sides of the gun debate. Despite common fears, differences in attitudes and feelings about guns themselves manifest in variable degrees of support for or opposition to gun control legislation that are often exaggerated within caricatured depictions of polarization. A psychological perspective suggests that consensus on gun legislation reform can be achieved through understanding differences and diversity on both sides of the debate, working within a common middle ground, and more research to resolve ambiguities about how best to minimize fear while maximizing personal and public safety.

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