Attitudes Toward Gun Control Among the American Public

• In Event: 2483 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 12. Right Wing Social Movements and Guns

Abstract

Recent massacres as a result of firearm possession in the United States such as Sandy Hook in 2012 (killing 27 people), and San Bernardino massacre in 2015 (killing 14 people), the shooting in Las Vegas, NV in 2017 (killing 58 people) and inside a Church in Sutherland, Texas (killing 26 people) have caused a more heated and impeding gun control conversation to occur. The topic of gun control and Americans’ attitudes toward it is important to study because in 2017 alone there were 13,176 deaths including: 618 children ages 0-11 injured or killed, 262 officers either shot or killed, 307 deaths from mass shooting, and 26,983 injuries due to guns. Using 2016 data from the General Social Survey (GSS), this paper attempts to gain insight on Americans’ attitude toward gun control in order to seek realistic implications in to what can be done at the policy level to reduce gun violence. I use a multitude of independent variables to capture the demographics of the American public such as race, gender, age, political views and party affiliation. My dependent variable of attitude toward gun control comes from two questions posed by the GSS: “would you favor or oppose a law which would require a person to obtain a police permit before he or she could buy a gun?” and “do you own a gun or revolver?” The analyses consist of chi square bivariate and multivariate analyses. Results reveal that political liberals are less likely than political conservatives to oppose gun control, men are more likely than women to oppose gun control, controlling for the effects of political view, and whites are more likely than non-whites to oppose gun control, controlling for the effects of political views. Future research should focus on realistic tactics to implement policy to reduce gun violence.

Author

• Oshea Donnell Johnson, University of Miami