Attributions as Anchors: How the Public Explains School Shootings and Why It Matters

Abstract

From Columbine to Sandy Hook to Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the American public has repeatedly witnessed the carnage and tragic consequences of mass school shootings. Using a national survey of American adults (N = 1,100) conducted between May 30 and June 6, 2018 in the aftermath of the Parkland tragedy, this project explores public opinion on why these events occur. Informed by sociological scholarship on social movements and framing, the analysis shows that the public endorses both gun and non-gun attributional frames for school shootings. What appears to most strongly influence the resonance of both types of attributional frames, by affecting their narrative fidelity, is racial resentment, seeing the world as dangerous, and ideological beliefs. The attributional frames that respondents endorse, in turn, serve as “anchors” for their social action beliefs—or vocabularies of motive—with gun attributions increasing both confidence in and support for the #NeverAgain movement.