Does Mass Shooting Influence Attitudinal Change? New Evidence from Orlando 2016

Does mass shooting event influence gun control attitudes? Previous research conducted by Rogowski and Tucker (2019) suggests that attitudes towards gun control remained unchanged following the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Given this finding’s counterintuitive nature and significance, we further investigate gun control attitudinal change using an exogenous event. Here, we employ a similar method while using the 2016 Orlando shooting as a new case to explore the extent to which the previously reported null effect holds. By leveraging the pre- and post-shooting responses for wave 55 of The American Panel Survey, we show that American’s gun control attitudes are unmalleable and deeply entrenched following mass shooting events. Our null finding has meaningful implications for the deadlocked gun control issue in the US.