Dangerous people or dangerous guns? effects of news media messages about mass shootings on attitudes toward persons with serious mental illness and public support for gun control policies

In recent years, mass shootings by persons with serious mental illness (SMI) have received extensive news media coverage. Gun control advocates contend that such news coverage creates a window of opportunity to raise public support for gun control policies, and mental health advocates contend that the same coverage exacerbates negative attitudes about persons with SMI. To test the effects of news stories about mass shootings on public attitudes toward persons with SMI and support for gun control policies, we fielded a randomized experiment using a national sample of 1,797 respondents from an online panel.

Respondents were randomly assigned to read one of three news stories or to a no-exposure control group. News stories described (1) a mass shooting; (2) a mass shooting and a SMI gun restriction proposal and (3) a mass shooting and a large-capacity magazine (LCM) ban proposal. Outcome questions assessed desired social distance from and perceived dangerousness of persons with SMI and support for SMI gun restrictions and banning LCMS. Results indicated that compared to the control group, exposure to a story about a mass shooting heightened respondents' negative attitudes about persons with SMI and raised support for both gun control policies. Including information about SMI gun restrictions in a story about a mass shooting did not shift public attitudes or policy support. The aftermath of mass shootings, like the recent tragedy in Newtown, creates an opportunity to garner support for gun control policies, but also contributes to negative attitudes toward those with SMI.