Hesitant to Pull the Trigger: How Perceived Impacts of Guns Influence Support/Opposition of Campus Carry

• In Event: Crime on Campus: Threats, Fear, and Responses to Crime in Schools

Abstract

Over the past decade, several state legislatures have considered or passed laws that require colleges and universities to allow certain individuals with a concealed carry permit to carry their guns on campuses. As more states consider passing campus carry laws, debates over guns on campus have emerged across the country. At the same time, researchers have started to examine the factors that determine support/opposition for campus carry among campus populations. Most of the previous studies, however, have only focused on how demographic characteristics, campus safety measures, and gun ownership and attitudes impact support/opposition for campus carry. Another important factor to consider is how faculty, staff, and students think having guns on campus will impact their campus life activities. It may be that the perceived academic- and employment- related impacts of having guns on campus play a large role in determining faculty, staff, and students’ support/opposition for campus carry laws. Using data from a sample of faculty, staff, administrators, and students from a large public university in Georgia, this current study fills a gap in past research by exploring how the perceived academic- and employment-related impacts of the presence of legal guns on campuses influences support/opposition for campus carry laws.

Authors

• Jennifer McMahon-Howard, Kennesaw State University

• Heidi Scherer, Kennesaw State University

• James McCafferty, Kennesaw State University