Objectives

This study examines how characteristics of victims and types of incidents described in a media account of gun violence affect public support for three categories of policies that regulate firearms.

Methods

A randomized experiment with a sample of US public (N = 3410).

Results

Victim race, particularly if the victim was Black, was a strong predictor of less public support for all tested categories of firearm regulation. Respondents were less supportive of policies to address gun suicide or accidents and more supportive of policy solutions to mass shootings, compared to street-level gun homicides. Depictions of victim gender, mental illness, prior incarceration, and age were less salient to support across categories of firearm regulation, compared to race and type of incident.

Conclusions

Media coverage of gun violence has heterogenous effects on public support for firearm regulation and may influence support for policies aimed at reducing specific types of gun violence.

中文翻译：

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枪支暴力受害的描绘和公众对枪支政策的支持：实验分析

目标

本研究探讨了枪支暴力媒体报道中描述的受害者特征和事件类型如何影响公众对三类枪支管制政策的支持。

方法

对美国公众样本进行的随机实验 ( N  = 3410)。

结果

受害者种族，特别是如果受害者是黑人，强烈预示公众对所有经过测试的枪支管制类别的支持会减少。与街头枪支杀人案相比，受访者不太支持解决枪支自杀或事故的政策，而更支持解决大规模枪击事件的政策。与种族和事件类型相比，对受害者性别、精神疾病、先前监禁和年龄的描述在枪支监管类别中的支持不太显着。

结论

枪支暴力的媒体报道对公众对枪支管制的支持具有不同的影响，并可能影响对旨在减少特定类型枪支暴力的政策的支持。