Generational Trends in Attitudes about Gun Ownership: A Data-Driven Learning Guide

Goal & Concept

Goal

The goal of this module is to explore generational trends in Americans' attitudes about gun ownership and to investigate how fear of crime and victimization might be related to attitudes about gun ownership. Crosstabulation will be used.

Concept

The rates of violent crime and shooting deaths in the U.S. are several times higher than in comparable industrialized countries around the world. The U.S. also has very high rates of gun ownership. Research suggests that attitudes about gun ownership are related to people's fear of crime.

Fear of crime has been the focus of much discussion, academic research, and policy initiatives over the past four decades. Common sense would suggest that fear of crime is related to crime victimization, and that the two factors in turn affect attitudes about gun ownership. However, research shows that these relationships are neither as straightforward nor as strong as one might think.

Examples of possible research questions about attitudes toward gun ownership and fear of crime:

• Do attitudes about gun ownership and gun control vary by race, age, gender, income level and location?

• What reasons do people give for owning a firearm?

• Are attitudes about gun ownership related to fear of crime, and if so, how?

• Does crime victimization affect one's attitudes about gun ownership and gun control?

Goal & Concept - Dataset - Application - Interpretation & Summary - Bibliography