Anxious About Social Violence: The Emotional Underpinnings of Support for Gun Control

Abstract

Objective We theorize that anxiety (fear) related to mass shootings and social violence increases support for gun control among the American public. Methods We support our theory with a regression discontinuity analysis based on an actual mass shooting, observational analyses from the same data set testing the relationship between fear and support for gun control, and two survey experiments that prime anxiety in the context of mass shootings and social violence. Findings We show that support for gun control increased on the day after an actual mass shooting. Observational analysis shows a positive correlation between fear of crime and support for gun control. One priming experiment shows that inducing anxiety about mass shootings increases support for gun control. A second priming experiment shows that exposure to a story about social violence activates anxiety and also increases support for gun control. Conclusions Our analyses show that anxiety related to mass shootings and mass violence increases support for gun control.

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