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Abstract
Shortly following the mass murders at a concert in Las Vegas, NV and at a church Sutherland Springs, TX, a national sample (n = 1,000) was surveyed in December 2017 regarding gun control policies. The study’s key finding is that two thirds of Americans rejected the view that these incidents were the “price of liberty,” advocating instead for efforts to ensure that such massacres should occur “never again.” A clear majority of the sample also rejected the idea that a gun was needed to repel the federal government’s threat to take away liberty and that a “good person” with a gun is the best way to stop a “bad person” with a gun. By contrast, high support was found for banning lethal firearms and bullets, for banning firearm ownership by risky people, and for most proposals seeking to regulate firearm ownership. Less support for these initiatives was found among males, the less educated, and gun owners as well as among those favoring the NRA, fearing government tyranny, and believing that carrying guns prevents murder. The results suggest that in the current context—which includes repeated mass murders—public opinion is conducive to reforms aimed at implementing common-sense gun safety regulations. The implications of likely policy reforms for justice evaluation are discussed.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Murat Haner is a Research Administration Faculty Fellow, Criminology Program Coordinator, and instructor in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of South Florida, Sarasota-Manatee. He is author of The Freedom Fighter: A Terrorist's Own Story. His current research focuses on public opinion on policy issues, including gun control, police use of force, and terrorism.
Francis T. Cullen is Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus and Senior Research Associate in the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati. He is a past president of the American Society of Criminology and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. His interests include redemption as a correctional theory and the organization of criminological knowledge.
Cheryl Lero Jonson is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Xavier University. Her research interests include correctional policy, offender reentry, and the prevention of gun violence. She is completing work on Shooter in the School: Preventing, Responding, and Surviving.
Alexander L. Burton is a doctoral student in the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati. His research has focused on correctional officer training, public support for inclusive policies toward offenders, and attitudes toward preventing school shootings.
Teresa C. Kulig is an assistant professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Her current interests are in the nature and control of human trafficking, rape myth acceptance in India, sources of school victimization, and assessing the crime policies of the Trump Administration.