Mass shootings only briefly shift public support for gun laws.

Evidence

Mass shootings come and go, but their impact on public attitudes regarding gun laws is much the same. Immediately after a gun massacre, there is a small increase in public support for tightening gun laws. However, such massacres rapidly fade from public consciousness and legislative concern until the next rampage arouses brief concern anew. This pattern of attitudinal change repeats itself regardless of whether the massacres occur in elementary schools, high schools, colleges, theaters, shopping centers, churches, military bases, or workplaces. No public place provides people with safety from semiautomatic guns and their spray of multiple rounds of bullets. Nor is any particular group safe from random killing sprees in the public places they frequent. Gun violence is a form of threat where a few incidents can change the quality of life in society at large because of the unpredictability of the threat and the gravity of its consequences (Bandura, 1986). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1239 (#expands, via linked claim)

Shifting the blame for mass killings solely to mental illness reframed the debate as a mental-health problem rather than a gun problem. The focus on mental illness also diverted attention away from everyday gun violence. The causal shift apparently resonated with the general public. When asked in a Gallup poll after the Newtown massacre what should be done to prevent future school shootings, the public favored increasing school security and mental health programs over doing something about guns of mass killing power (Newport, 2012). However, the average values mask a huge political divide. Democrats heavily favored banning assault weapons (61%), whereas Republicans’ support for banning such weapons (26%) was much lower. Democrats were also less supportive of having an armed school official in every school (27%) than were Republicans (49%). Rather, Democrats strongly favored increased spending on mental health screening and treatment (67%), whereas Republicans were much less supportive of this approach (35%), despite attribution of mass shootings to mental illness. The priority in mental health measures is not surprising. Communities welcome programs that add federal funds to their coffers. However, those priorities would rapidly change if communities had to tax themselves to pay for them. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1297 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Mass shootings produce only brief, recurring bursts of support for gun reform; Mass shooting support for gun control spikes briefly then decays until the next massacre — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1239; Mass shootings fail as galvanizing events for gun reform because opponents morally disengage — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1245 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Mass shootings produce only brief, recurring bursts of support for gun reform #expands (0.97)
• Mass shooting support for gun control spikes briefly then decays until the next massacre #expands (0.95) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1239
• Attributing mass shootings to mental illness diverts blame from guns and masks political divides #complicates (0.74) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1297