Introduction
Few topics are more politically divisive than gun control in an era of wide gaps between Republicans and Democrats. Over the past several years, party differences on some policy options—and even on whether gun violence is a major national problem—have widened. However, a few particular policy initiatives still have bipartisan support. Currently, slightly over half of Americans (53%) believe that gun restrictions should be stricter than they are.
However, just 20% of Republicans and Republican leaners share this opinion (Pew Research Center, 2021). Similarly, just 20% of Republicans agree that making it more difficult to purchase weapons legally will reduce the number of mass shootings. While 73% of Democrats believe the same, with the majority (65%) believing it would have no impact (Pew Research Center, 2021). Thus, the increase in gun violence stimulates the appearance of new policy regulations and measures to reduce the number of incidents. However, the estimation of the effectiveness of the restrictions of gun policy in literature seems to be debatable.
The Purpose and Structure of the Review
The purpose of this study is to examine the literature regarding the influence of mass shootings on gun control policy. The review will emphasize the main themes covered by researchers, exploring the most common and debatable points. The review will examine four articles concerning gun ownership restrictions as a consequence of mass shootings. The articles examine this question from different points of view: the influence of mass shooting on laws (Luca et al., 2020), the effectiveness of preventing shooting on an individual level (Wintemute et al., 2019), the effect mass shooting has on purchasing a firearm (Liu & Weibe, 2019). There is an article that studies mass shooting in general but covers the question of the adequacy of the response to the threat on the level of federal legislation (Katsiannys et al., 2022). Since the articles cover the topic of gun policy in different aspects, they do not have many common themes. There are three main topics that the researchers examine: the effectiveness of the gun policy, the different approaches political parties have regarding gun restrictions, and the response to mass shootings and other firearm crimes in media.
Estimation of Changes in Gun Policy After Mass Shootings
The first and obvious theme that researchers examine is the estimation of whether mass shootings meet sufficient reaction in regard to gun restrictions, which turns out to be a debatable question. Such researchers as Luka et al. (2019) and Wintemute et al. (2020) agree in considering the policy response strong, although they explore it on different levels. Luka et al. (2020) focus on legislation regulating gun control, stating that mass shooting causes an increment in firearm bills. In the meantime, Wintemute et al. (2019) examine the case restrictions on an individual level with the help of extreme risk protection orders.
The geographical limits of this research are narrower as they concentrate on the cases of issuing ERPOs in California. However, there is another point of view on that issue. Katsiannys et al. (2022), in their work, estimate the federal laws on the gun policy as not enough response to the threat that is considered a “pressing social and public health issue” (p. 2). The article by Luke et al. (2019) provides more solid proof than other articles. This research appears to be the most trustworthy and objective.
Dependence of Reaction on Political Parties in Power
The second vital point of the research works studying the effect of mass shooting on gun policy is the statement that the intensity of response to mass shootings depends on what party is currently in power. The main advocate of this point of view is Luka et al. (2020), who provide data showing that Republicans are less likely to come up with initiatives restricting gun ownership. This thesis is confirmed by Liu and Weibe (2019), whose research explores citizens’ behavior after mass shootings and examines the dependence of customers’ choices on their expectations from politicians. They studied the amount of gun purchasing after mass shootings stating that the fear of restrictions was one of the factors that encouraged people to buy guns. Liu and Weibe (2019) provide data that illustrates that the number of guns purchased increased when Democrats won elections. The analysts connected it with the fact that customers were expecting new restriction laws. When Republicans were winning, the reaction tended to be the opposite (Liu & Weibe, 2019). This issue is less debatable than previous, as the researchers mainly do not explore the connection between politics and gun control.
Perception of Mass Shootings and Other Crimes in Media
The third important theme covered in research works is the difference in reaction to mass shooting as opposed to other forms of gun violence, which in the case of mass shootings, tends to be more intense. The researchers agree that this kind of firearm crime gets more attention from the media even if occurrences of the mass shooting happen rarer than other crimes. Liu and Weibe (2019) estimate this fact negatively, stating that such attention inspires more fear. Luka et al. (2020) support the idea as well, stating that mass shooting influences legislation more than other homicides involving guns. This data provoke many questions concerning the reasons why mass shootings get a different way of representation in media and different government response and what consequences this attention cause to society.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the main themes that researchers underline are the adequacy of the reaction to the mass shooters from the side of legislators and the dependence of the intensity of response on the political party in power. The third central theme is the comparison between the reactions to the mass shooting and other firearm crimes. There is no unanimous opinion about whether the gun policy is effective enough, but the authors of the most reviewed works note that mass shooting causes certain restrictions. There are not many works that examine the direct influence of mass shootings on gun control. Mostly, this theme is covered as a part of research exploring mass shootings or gun control in general. Some articles, on the contrary, examine very specific aspects of the theme, so there is a need for research that would cover that in a more detailed way. For example, examining and comparing the effectiveness of the gun policy on the national and individual levels.
References
Luca, M., Malhotra, D., & Poliquin, C. (2020). The impact of mass shootings on gun policy. Journal of public economics, 181. Web.
Katsiyannis, A., Rapa, L. J., Whitford, D. K., & Scott, S. N. (2022). An examination of US school mass shootings, 2017–2022: Findings and implications. Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 1-11. Web.
Liu, G. & Weibe, D. J. (2019). A Time-series analysis of firearm purchasing after mass shooting events in the United States. JAMA Network Open, 2(4). Web.
Wintemute, C.J., Pear, V.A., Schleimer, J.P., Pallin, R., Sohi, S., Kravitz-Wirtz, N., Tomsich, E.A. (2019). Extreme risk protection orders Intended to prevent mass shootings: A case series. Annals of Internal Medicine, 171(9), 55-658. Web.