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Affiliation
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University of Pennsylvania, 3815 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. Electronic address: sorenson@upenn.edu. |
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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: Public opinion polling about gun policy is routinely conducted and often disregarded. The purpose of this research is to explore ways in which surveys can be made more useful to policy makers, researchers, and the general public.
METHODS: A stratified random sample of 1000 undergraduates at a private, urban university was recruited for an online survey about seven gun policies. A total of 51.7% completed the survey questions analyzed herein. Going beyond typical assessments of agreement, an experiment was conducted within the survey: participants were randomly assigned to type of gun violence and next to information about the scope of homicide, suicide, violent crime, etc. Participants were then asked to estimate the effectiveness of each policy, including the possibility of making things worse.
RESULTS: Participants indicated strong support for all policies and expected each to be effective with one exception - a policy designed to increase the number of guns on the scene, that is, putting armed police in schools. Those who did not support a given policy did not expect it to make things worse. Telling participants about the scope of the violence did not but the type of gun violence did affect effectiveness ratings.
CONCLUSIONS: Asking about expected effectiveness of (vs. general support for) a policy might identify some optimism: Even people who don't support a policy sometimes think it will be effective.
FINDINGS suggest that surveys about the effectiveness of gun violence policies likely assess views that exclude suicide, the most common form of gun-related mortality.
Language: en |