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

Heejin Lee · Justin T. Pickett · Alexander L. Burton · Francis T. Cullen · Cheryl Lero Jonson · Velmer S. Burton

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Gun Ownership and Violence Research Media Studies and Communication Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence

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.

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References

2000Framing Processes and Social Movements: An Overview and Assessment 1986Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization, and Movement Participation 2012Affect, Not Ideology 2016Strangers in their own land : anger and mourning on the American right 1993Frontiers in social movement theory 2014Fear and Loathing across Party Lines: New Evidence on Group Polarization 1991The logic of congressional action 1992The Rational Public

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2021Understanding Gun Ownership in the Twenty-First Century: Why Some Americans Own Guns, but Most Do Not 2020Information-seeking in the Wake of Tragedy: An Examination of Public Response to Mass Shootings Using Google Search Data

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