Shootings, Guns and Public Opinion

Last week the country was shocked by the on-air shooting of a reporter and cameraman - shocked, but perhaps not surprised. Gun violence has become an all-too-common part of the news, and after each incident, a debate erupts over gun control. Public opinion data over more than fifty years reveals a country ever less willing to restrict gun ownership, even as mass shootings and other high-profile shooting incidents continue to make news. From the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research archives:

Tragedy in the news. Again.

Gun-related homicide deaths have been decreasing in number since the 1990s. But the number of active shooter events and mass shootings have increased in recent years.

Such terrible events make headlines. Pollsters have asked the public about their attention to news stories about these tragedies since 1998. While many stories of national-reported shootings are followed very or fairly closely by half or less of the public, some such incidents gain the attention of eight in ten or more.
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Those who hope that changing gun laws can help to prevent shootings incidents like last week's on-air homicide or the murder of nine people in the church in Charleston in June have to overcome significant barriers in American attitudes. Those who argue that gun laws are ineffective, that these events are isolated incidents, and that guns bring more safety than danger appear to be winning the public debate.