Gun Control Research Articles

Faith over fear? Christian nationalism and cultural fears in the United States

AbstractRecent research demonstrates strong connections between Americans' embrace of Christian nationalism and their beliefs and attitudes towards a host of salient social and cultural issues. Implicit in these explanations is that a stronger embrace of Christian nationalism signals an underlying fear of changes to the broader culture, which are perceived as leading the nation further away from a preferred, mythic past. To date, however, empirical studies have not focused explicitly on the relationship between social fears and Christian nationalism. Using a nationally representative sample of American adults, we examine the relationship between Christian nationalism and Americans' fears about immigrants, Muslims, communism, white racial replacement and gun control. We find that Christian nationalism is strongly associated with fears about ethnoracial ‘others’, as well as fears about losing economic autonomy and access to guns. Overall, our study shows that contemporary Christian nationalism in the United States is situated in a constellation of social fears about ethnoracial purity, as well as about the perceived loss of individual autonomy.

Not all Christian nationalists are White (and not all White Christians are Christian nationalists): exploring the predictors of Christian nationalism

IntroductionIn recent years, the literature on Christian nationalism has grown exponentially. Studies have found that individuals who score high on a widely used Christian nationalism scale are likelier to advocate for traditional gender roles, endorse anti-immigrant policies, support policies limiting voting rights, oppose gun control and interracial marriage, express anti-vaccine attitudes, hold anti-globalist sentiments, and vote for Donald Trump. The literature on Christian nationalism is not without its critics, however. Some, for example, have questioned whether the scale used by many studies adequately identifies Christian nationalists and suggested alternative methods for doing so. Much of the literature also implicitly or explicitly equates Christian nationalism with white Christian nationalism, ignoring the fact that 25 to 30 percent of respondents who express Christian nationalist sentiments identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian, or another race or ethnicity. Finally, most of it has focused on the consequences of Christian nationalism. Very little has explored the predictors of Christian nationalism. The latter is the focus of this paper.MethodsDrawing on multivariate logistic regression, it examines potential factors driving Christian nationalist attitudes.ResultsIt finds that age, whether someone identifies as a conservative or a Republican, biblical literalism, and frequent worship attendance are positively associated with Christian nationalism, while being affiliated with religious traditions other than evangelicalism (or having no affiliation at all) is negatively associated with it. Notably, race and ethnicity have no effect, suggesting that other factors may be at work.DiscussionAs such, the paper briefly considers four potential factors not readily captured by statistical analyses of cross-sectional data. It concludes by noting that if Christian nationalism is potentially undemocratic and dangerous, then concerned individuals need to focus as much time and energy on its predictors as its consequences.

Confronting the Global Crisis of Youth and Firearms in the Wake of Serbia’s First School Shooting

Abstract Issue School shootings reflect crucial systemic flaws, notably the ease of firearm access and training for children, despite rigorous firearm regulations. Description In May 2023, Serbia was rocked by its first school shooting in Belgrade, where a 13-year-old boy, armed with guns and Molotov cocktails, killed 9 and injured 6.His actions were amplified by his proficiency with firearms, a skill honed under his father’s guidance at shooting ranges. This tragic event ignited a nationwide debate on gun control. Our study seeks to attain an in-depth analysis on regulations on minimum age for firearm training in context of school shootings in Serbia and USA as countries with highest rates of civilian gun ownership globally. Results Serbian regulations lack a definitive minimum age for firearm training at shooting ranges, mirroring a situation in the USA, where 17 states do not have child access prevention laws, and 43 states lack mandated safe storage requirements. A worrying trend is the escalation in mass shootings by individuals aged 21 or younger, deviating from the earlier trend of middle-aged perpetrators. This younger demographic often seeks fame, inspired by previous mass shooters, contributing to the rise in both deliberate and accidental shootings by young people. Lessons We need to consider the implementation of regulations on minimum age for children firearm training at shooting ranges, as well as stricter control of the ranges. This problem extends beyond national boundaries, reflecting a global issue. The accessibility of firearms to youth, coupled with their developmental susceptibility to impulsive and aggressive behavior, raises significant concerns. Key messages • To increase global awareness and stricter regulations on youth firearm access, emphasizing the stricter regulations on shooting ranges and the integration of firearm safety education into curricula. • Firearm control and children safety is a collective international duty, crucial for addressing a concern that impacts public safety and youth welfare.

EFEITOS DAS ALTERAÇÕES RECENTES NO ESTATUTO DO DESARMAMENTO: UMA ANÁLISE DAS IMPLICAÇÕES PARA A SEGURANÇA PÚBLICA NO BRASIL

This research addresses recent changes to the Disarmament Statute in Brazil and their implications for public safety. The Disarmament Statute, established by Law No. 10.826/2003, was created to reduce the circulation of firearms in the country and reduce violence rates. However, in recent decades, significant changes in legislation have made access to weapons more flexible, sparking debates about the possible impacts of these changes on the security and crime scenario. The relevance of the research lies in the fact that gun control is a central issue for public safety, being widely discussed in various political and social contexts. Thus, the research is justified by the need to understand the possible effects of changes to the Disarmament Statute, considering the increased flexibility of access to weapons. The main objective of this research was to analyze these recent changes to the Disarmament Statute and evaluate their effects on the regulation of access to weapons and on violence and crime rates in Brazil. To achieve this objective, the methodology adopted was based on a bibliographic review and analysis of laws related to the topic. The results of this research showed that recent changes to the Disarmament Statute have the potential to significantly impact public safety in Brazil. The analysis of the legislative changes revealed that, with the relaxation of access to and possession of weapons, there is an increased risk of weapons circulating in the hands of the civilian population, which can aggravate situations of violence and crime.

US States with poor social health outcomes and more firearms have more morbidity due to mass shootings.

Mass shootings represent a persistent public health crisis. Prior studies have linked social determinants of health (SDOH) to the phenomenon of gun violence, but there remain limited analyses on mass shooting events specifically. Mass shooting events from 2014-2019 were recorded from the Gun Violence Archive. State-level data regarding population, ATF registered weapons, federal firearm licensees and several SDOHs (poverty, unemployment and educational attainment) were collected from publicly-available US governmental databases. Giffords Law Center rankings were used to assess the relative strictness of each state's gun laws. Gun ownership rates were obtained from the RAND Corporation. Bivariate analyses compared each SDOH, as well as ATF registered weapons, Giffords Center ranking and gun ownership rates, to the death rate, injury rate, and combined injury/death rate from mass shootings in each state. All associations were evaluated via Pearson's Rho. Slope and p-values were analyzed, with a threshold significance value of p less than 0.05. Unadjusted analysis revealed poor mental health, decreased educational attainment and increased unemployment to all be associated with an increased risk of mass shooting-related injury or death. Adjusted analysis revealed fewer firearm regulations, higher gun ownership, lack of handgun magazine restrictions and lack of long-gun registration requirements were associated with an increased risk of mass-shooting death. Similarly, adjusted analysis revealed lack of handgun permit requirements to be associated with both an increased risk of mass shooting-related injury and combined risk of injury/death. This study revealed associations between multiple SDOH and firearm restrictions with morbidity due to mass shooting events.

Cognitive support for political partisans' understanding of policy data.

Political partisanship might lead educated adults-even the highly numerate-to reason selectively about numbers that are relevant to and support their ideology ("motivated numeracy"). In this pre-registered study, we sought to examine the replicability of motivated numeracy, and investigate whether cognitive support (number lines) that improves the reasoning of children might also improve the reasoning of political partisans. To test this, we asked 1000 adults about their political ideology and asked them to interpret fictional data, in a table or number-line format, about ideology relevant (i.e., the effect of gun control on crime) or irrelevant (i.e., the effect of skin cream on rash) issues. We failed to replicate motivated numeracy when political identity was used but observed motivated numeracy when prior attitude was used. Moreover, data presented on number lines elicited 75 percent greater accuracy than data presented in tables, regardless of whether the information was ideology-relevant, or whether data supported, was neutral to, or contradicted participants' political outlooks. Findings imply that political partisans require cognitive support to be more objective about policy data.

Trends and topics: Characterizing echo chambers’ topological stability and in-group attitudes

Nowadays, online debates focusing on a wide spectrum of topics are often characterized by clashes of polarized communities, each fiercely supporting a specific stance. Such debates are sometimes fueled by the presence of echo chambers, insulated systems whose users’ opinions are exacerbated due to the effect of repetition and by the active exclusion of opposite views. This paper offers a framework to explore how echo chambers evolve through time, considering their users’ interaction patterns and the content/attitude they convey while addressing specific controversial issues. The framework is then tested on three Reddit case studies focused on sociopolitical issues (gun control, American politics, and minority discrimination) during the first two years and a half of Donald Trump’s presidency and on an X/Twitter dataset involving BLM discussion tied to the EURO 2020 football championship. Analytical results unveil that polarized users will likely keep their affiliation to echo chambers in time. Moreover, we observed that the attitudes conveyed by Reddit users who joined risky epistemic enclaves are characterized by a slight inclination toward a more negative or neutral attitude when discussing particularly sensitive issues (e.g., fascism, school shootings, or police violence) while X/Twitter ones often tend to express more positive feelings w.r.t. those involved into less polarized communities.

Penerapan Undang - Undang Darurat Nomor 12 Tahun 1951 Tentang Kepemilikan Senjata Api Secara Ilegal

Law is defined as a rule or norm that must be followed by humans. To ensure the implementation of law in Indonesia, various legal products are needed, especially laws that regulate community activities. Firearms abbreviated as Senpi are weapons that release one or more projectiles that are propelled at high speed by gas produced by the combustion of a propellant (projectile). The problem of ownership to misuse of firearms is something that is very dangerous and high risk, resulting in fatalities in society, the increasing number of cases in recent years in Indonesia shows the importance of the seriousness of law enforcement in responding to this problem. Misuse of Illegal Firearms Ownership is regulated in Emergency Law Number 12 of 1951 concerning the amendment of the "Ordonnantie Tijdelijke Bijzondere Strafbepalinge" (STBL. 1948 No. 17) and the Former Republic of Indonesia Law Number 8 of 1948 stating that anyone who without the right to enter Indonesia makes, receives, tries to obtain, submits or tries to submit, controls, carries, has a stock of it or has in his possession, stores, transports, hides, uses, or removes from Indonesia a firearm, ammunition or explosive material, is punished with the death penalty or life imprisonment or a temporary prison sentence of up to twenty years. Police Regulation Number 1 of 2022 dated January 28, 2022 concerning licensing, supervision and control of Polri firearms, non-organic TNI-Polri firearms and security equipment classified as firearms, namely non-TNI-Polri firearms with types of non-TNI-Polri firearms including live ammunition firearms, rubber bullets, and gas bullets from the Polri. The process from ordering to handover of goods to the owner, both the legality of documents and physical control (ballistic tests) are under the supervision of the Polri. The circulation of illegal firearms among the Indonesian people requires law enforcement, especially the Police, to be more active and take early prevention measures against those who own, make, and supply illegal firearms that threaten the lives of the community due to the impacts caused by illegal firearm ownership. The case of firearm ownership against the defendant SULIS NURFITO, Ponorogo, 34 years old, Male, Jln. Swadaya Kel. Bukit Batrem District. Dumai Timur Province. Riau, Islam, Construction Workers with Decision NUMBER 2157/Pid.Sus/2017/PN Mdn sentenced to 2 (two) years and 3 (three) months in prison, making the public's perspective on the world of justice in Indonesia far from the public's expectations considering the threat of punishment for the Article applied with the threat of 20 Years in Prison with the verdict given by the judge of 2 (two) years and 3 (three) months shows that law enforcement is far from the public's expectations and does not have a deterrent effect on the defendant and other users of illegal firearms who have not been arrested by the Police.

Public Mass Shootings: Counterfactual Trend Analysis of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban.

Assault weapon and large-capacity magazine bans are potential tools for policy makers to prevent public mass shootings. However, the efficacy of these bans is a continual source of debate. In an earlier study, we estimated the impact of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (FAWB) on the number of public mass shooting events in the United States. This study provides an updated assessment with 3 additional years of firearm surveillance data to characterize the longer-term effects. This study aims to estimate the impact of the FAWB on trends in public mass shootings from 1966 to 2022. We used linear regression to estimate the impact of the FAWB on the 4-year simple moving average of annual public mass shootings, defined by events with 4 or more deaths in 24 hours, not including the perpetrator. The study period spans 1966 to 2022. The model includes indicator variables for both the FAWB period (1995-2004) and the period after its removal (2005-2022). These indicators were interacted with a linear time trend. Estimates were controlled for the national homicide rate. After estimation, the model provided counterfactual estimates of public mass shootings if the FAWB was never imposed and if the FAWB remained in place. The overall upward trajectory in the number of public mass shootings substantially fell while the FAWB was in place. These trends are specific to events in which the perpetrator used an assault weapon or large-capacity magazine. Point estimates suggest the FAWB prevented up to 5 public mass shootings while the ban was active. A continuation of the FAWB and large-capacity magazine ban would have prevented up to 38 public mass shootings, but the CIs become wider as time moves further away from the period of the FAWB. The FAWB, which included a ban on large-capacity magazines, was associated with fewer public mass shooting events, fatalities, and nonfatal gun injuries. Gun control legislation is an important public health tool in the prevention of public mass shootings.

“I know it when I see it”: Public opinion on removing guns from compromised owners

“Red flag” laws allow the government to remove firearms from someone if a judge is persuaded that the owner is a danger to self or others. We present the evolution of these laws and then develop and test a series of hypotheses using data from the Guns in American Life Survey (GALS), a nationwide online survey conducted in late 2018 to investigate public opinion. Findings show that adults who believe they know a “compromised” gun owner (e.g. dangerous, seriously mentally ill or suffering dementia) tend to be much more supportive of red flag laws, moderating the effects of immersion in gun culture. GALS reveals that political underpinnings are not determinative of the views of respondents. However, two sets of gun-related attitudes are strongly predictive of attitudes towards red flag laws–acceptance of scientific evidence that guns are “risky” and dangerous for civilians and principled rejection of gun control as a violation of the Second Amendment. Our results suggest that local circumstances (knowing someone who is a danger) can overwhelm macro-social attitude formation forces. We conclude by reviewing how firearm policy responses evolve, and how previously unpalatable options can become accepted by different groups such as legislators, law enforcement, registered voters and the general public.

Behind the black box: The moderating role of the machine heuristic on the effect of transparency information about automated journalism on hostile media bias perception

Facing historically low levels of public trust, journalists had been increasingly interested in the potential of artificial intelligence to produce news content. Some have suggested that Automated Journalism (AJ) may reduce Hostile Media Biases (HMB), where partisans perceive balanced articles as slanted against their side. However, empirical evidence for the hypothesis remains limited and inconclusive. In this study, we examine whether the effectiveness of AJ at reducing HMB perceptions could be enhanced by disclosure of transparency information about how the algorithm works. We conducted an online experiment ( N = 264 US adults) in which participants were randomly assigned to read a balanced news article about gun control written by different authors (AJ, AJ + transparency information, journalist, student, no author). Our findings indicate that AJ transparency, on average, did not significantly reduce HMB compared to AJ along. A significant interaction effect was identified: participants who strongly endorsed the machine heuristic were less likely to perceive the content in the AJ transparency condition, but not that of other conditions, as biased. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The Emergence of the Second Amendment Sanctuary Movement: Partisan Federalism, Not White Protectionism

Abstract One-third of all US counties have enacted Second Amendment Sanctuary (2AS) ordinances, preventing the enforcement of state and federal gun control laws. We test two theories to explain 2AS enactment. First, 2AS may be a manifestation of partisan federalism. This perspective predicts that the nationalization of policy issues has led partisan groups to support “sanctuary” policies in friendly jurisdictions to frustrate the opposition. Second, given the close link between gun policy preferences and racial identities, 2AS enactment may be related to racial dynamics and especially the declining political power of White Americans. Thus, we should expect that 2AS adoptions will occur in majority White counties with declining White populations. We leverage a unique dataset of county-level 2AS enactments to test these hypotheses. We find strong evidence for the partisan federalism hypothesis. In contrast, we find weak and inconsistent evidence for the racial threat hypothesis.

The Supreme Court Decision on Firearm Ownership for People Subject to Restraining Orders

This Viewpoint explicates the complex reasoning the US Supreme Court has used in rulings on gun control and raises concerns that the recent Rahimi decision poses more questions than it settled on the future of the Second Amendment.

Lay down your sword? Christian nationalism, race, and opposition to requiring gun permits

ABSTRACT Christian nationalism and race are both important predictors of firearm policy preferences in the United States, and a growing body of research argues that ideas about gun control tend to be racially coded. Building on these findings, we use data from the 2021 General Social Survey to examine how race and ethnicity moderate the association between Christian nationalism and firearm policy preferences – specifically requiring a police permit to purchase a gun. Analyses show strong, racially divergent associations between Christian nationalism and opposition to requiring gun permits. Christian nationalism is associated with higher opposition to requiring gun permits for non-Hispanic White Americans, but lower opposition for non-Hispanic Black Americans. Moreover, accounting for biblical literalism attenuates the association for White Americans but amplifies the association for Black Americans. These findings support the conceptualization of Christian nationalism as a racialized ideology, i.e. one which has different meanings and effects across ethno-racial identities.

A Nash equilibrium against gun control

This work constructs a non-cooperative, static game of gun control between the citizen and a pacifistic society characterised by law enforcement imperfection, by which the retention of firearms and the certitude of punishment against all crimes emerge both as a strict Nash equilibrium, in pure strategies, and as a strict dominant strategy equilibrium. The reason is that ratified by the Second Amendment to the American Constitution, discerning the necessity of a militia to the individual and societal security of a free state, by which the right of the people to keep and bear arms cannot be infringed.

Firearms control as an element of criminological security in the concept of transitional justice for Ukraine

Firearms control as an element of criminological security in the concept of transitional justice for Ukraine

Procedures for the Control and Use of Firearms for Members of the Police of the Republic of Indonesia

The police institution serves as the spearhead in realizing the nation's ideals of justice, civility, and peace. This is regulated by Law No. 2 of 2003 concerning the police, where the police institution is one of the government's functions in maintaining security, public order, law enforcement, protection, guidance, and services to the community.To support these functions and duties, police officers are granted the authority to use firearms to achieve the nation's goals. In using firearms, the police institution must comply with applicable regulations and prioritize human rights (HR). This research aims to understand the system of granting possession and use of firearms permits for Indonesian police officers. This study employs normative legal research methods, which focus on the provisions of laws and regulations and their application in legal events. The sources of legal materials used consist of literature and field research. Literature includes legal materials obtained from reading literature and official sources in legal research, while field research is obtained by conducting interviews with informants.

The Influence of Gun Victimization on Support for Gun Control Legislation.

The primary objective of the current study was to add to the literature and broaden our understanding of gun violence victims by examining attitudes towards gun legislation held by victims of gun violence. To our knowledge, there are only two quantitative studies that have examined the impact of gun victimization on attitudes towards gun control legislation. A secondary objective was to examine the link between impressions of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and gun policy preferences, which remains an understudied area in the gun legislation literature. The current study additionally examined other factors that may impact support for gun control measures. Utilizing data from a national sample of 880 adults and controlling for demographic predictors, logistic regression was employed to examine the impact of gun victimization on attitudes towards gun control legislation. Although prior gun victimization did not yield any significant findings, concordant with prior research, regression results indicated that gun ownership was a strong predictor of opposition to gun control among respondents. Interestingly, holding a favorable attitude towards the NRA was an even stronger predictor of opposition to firearms legislation than gun ownership. Findings point to the need for additional empirical research on the impact of gun victimization and the influence that organizations like the NRA have on public opinion and subsequent gun safety legislative efforts.

The Impacts of Political Internet Memes on Opinions: The Moderating Role of Political Party Identification

ABSTRACT Using memes on two political issues, an online experiment was conducted among a convenience sample of American adults to explore people’s reactions to political internet memes and the memes’ impacts on political opinions while considering the moderating role of political party identification. It found that memes on immigration had a significant main effect on opinions but those on gun control did not. Nonetheless, the memes on both issues produced more meme-consistent thoughts among partisans whose party shares the memes’ views than among those whose party opposes the memes’ views. Moreover, the memes supporting one’s party’s views had significant positive impacts on political opinions; but those challenging one’s party’s views had little impact. The political implications of these findings are discussed.

Passion for guns and beliefs in a dangerous world: An examination of defensive gun ownership.

This research examines the notion of defensive gun ownership using the Dualistic Model of Passion. We hypothesized that an obsessive (vs. harmonious) passion for guns would be associated with a belief in a dangerous world (BDW). We expected this relationship to intensify in threatening contexts, leading to a more expansive view on defensive gun ownership. We tested this hypothesis across three threat contexts: a gun-control message (Study 1, N = 342), a live shooting simulation (Study 2, N = 398), and the aftermath of the Christchurch mass shootings (Study 3, N = 314). In the experimental Study 1, exposure to a gun-control message increased the intention to purchase guns among those with an obsessive passion (OP) for guns. Study 2 revealed that BDW mediated the relationship between OP and assertive modes of protection, the desire to purchase high-stopping-power guns, and anti-Black racial bias in a shooting task. Study 3 showed that knowledge of the Christchurch attack intensified the link between OP and BDW, leading to increased support for gun access, a willingness to act as a citizen-protector, and prejudice against Muslims. Comprehending these dynamics can assist policymakers in crafting messaging campaigns for firearm regulation and public safety measures that are more effective.