Today students across the country are walking out of school to protest violence and demand gun control reform. Where do Americans stand on this issue, and have their views changed over time? Government policy makes it difficult to research gun violence in the United States, but we do have some trend data from the General Social Survey that offers important context about how Americans view this issue.
For over forty years, the GSS has been asking its respondents whether they “favor or oppose a law which would require a person to obtain a police permit before he or she could buy a gun”—a simple measure to take the temperature on basic support for gun control. Compared to other controversial social policies, there is actually widespread and consistent support for this kind of gun control.
In light of the Second Amendment, however, the U.S. has a reputation for having a strong pro-gun culture. Is this true? It turns out there has been a dramatic shift in the proportion of respondents who report even having a gun in their homes. Despite this trend, gun sales are still high, suggesting that those sales are concentrated among people who already own a gun.
Recent controversies over gun control can make it seem like the nation is deeply and evenly divided. These data provide an important reminder that gun control is actually pretty popular, even though views on the issue have become more politically polarized over time.
Inspired by demographic facts you should know cold, “What’s Trending?” is a post series at Sociological Images featuring quick looks at what’s up, what’s down, and what sociologists have to say about it.
Ryan Larson is a graduate student from the Department of Sociology, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. He studies crime, punishment, and quantitative methodology. He is a member of the Graduate Editorial Board of The Society Pages, and his work has appeared in Poetics, Contexts, and Sociological Perspectives.
Evan Stewart is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Minnesota. You can follow him on Twitter.
Imagine, if you want to, 25 thirteen year olds, sitting on the floor of their classroom, in the dark, backs against the wall, blinds closed, lights off, their 27 year old teacher sitting in the chair between them and the door.
Lock down drills are hard. They are always hard, but they are especially hard when it’s right after a shooting. Most of the kids are scared. You can tell the ones who are the most anxious, the way they hug their knees against their chests, their straight-lipped expressions, their eyes staring at the tiled floor. A few others are less scared and more annoyed, more frustrated, more bored. They try to whisper to their friends, to crack small jokes, to break the weird, uncomfortable tension that settles over a group of children practicing acting like they don’t exist. They think this is stupid, a waste of time. It wouldn’t really help them anyway, would it? Would THIS, sitting quiet and still in the dark, REALLY be enough to save them if THAT happened? If a man with a gun was coming for them? Would this REALLY be the best we can do?
And then there’s me. A lot of teachers have posted a lot of things over the last few days, about how this feels, about what this means. And it’s true- without even being asked, I would take a bullet for these kids.
For the sweet little girl who brought me a Dr. Pepper when I had a headache last week. For the quiet boy who always turns in his homework on time. For the girl who never turns in her homework at all. For the kid who called me a fat bitch last Tuesday. I would take a bullet for each and every one of them. I know it unconditionally. If I didn’t, I don’t think I could do this job anymore. That’s why I’m here- in the chair closest to the door, the last thing between them and whatever might come for them.
It’s hard to explain how it feels to get that email in the morning, from the Assistant Principal, about the lockdown drill scheduled for 9am. Turn off the lights. Doors locked. Window covered. Silence. Wait for 2 administrators to end the drill. If we shake the door handles or pound on the doors, don’t make a sound. Push a few desks against the door to practice making a barricade. Tell the kids to hold their library books against their chests- they could help act as a shield.
Imagine- telling kids to grab their copy of Harry Potter, of Dork Diaries, of Warrior Cats and hold it against their chest. As if the newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid is going to save them. As if Hunger Games will stop a bullet.
I was 8 when Columbine happened. I don’t remember it, at least, not very well. I remember having lockdown drills after that in school. I remember hating them.
I was 16 when Virginia Tech happened. I was in my chemistry class. My teacher turned on the news, white as a sheet. We watched in silence.
I was 21 when Sandy Hook happened. In college. Learning to be a teacher. I remember sitting in my Adolescent Development class as the news started pouring into our phones. I remember the grief. I remember the anger. I remember the fear that filled that room full of young adults on their way to be teachers.
I’m 27 now, and there’s Parkland. A teacher, with my own classroom, with 25 7th graders sitting in the dark, listening for our principal’s footsteps in the hallways, pretending to be a shooter.
I don’t know what the solution is. I’m not even sure what the problem is. People will tell you it’s so many things- guns (partly I think), kids these days (kids have always been kids), a lack of discipline, a lack of respect, toxic masculinity (likely), white male entitlement (very likely), mental illness (probably not), violent video games, everything is on the table. Maybe all teachers just need guns in their classrooms (an idea that makes me physically ill, and I fear would do far more harm than good overall.) Maybe we need to ban those damn AR-15s (The guns used in Orlando, Las Vegas, Newtown, Sutherland Springs, and now Parkland.) Maybe we need to have a real conversation about how we raise our boys, how we stop radicalization and violence before it boils over into this. Maybe we need more gun training and more school counselors and more honest conversations about who we are as a people. I can’t say exactly what we need.
But we need something. Something big and fundamental, and it’ll probably be a messy, complicated ordeal to do. But we need it now.
I wrote this 4 years ago.
I’m 31 now.
And another 19 children are dead. Their teacher dead.
Another Facebook feed filled with thoughts and prayers.
Another round of debates, blaming mental health and kids these days instead of finding solutions.
Another round of people who would rather treat this like a natural disaster, a tornado or a hurricane, than something we could prevent.
I think a big part of the reason we find ourselves here, and I know I’m going to be put on a list for saying this, but politicians are not scared enough of their constituents anymore.
Do any other american high schoolers have intense survivor’s guilt and trauma with school shootings even though they weren’t at your school?
Like. A laser tag place opened geared towards teenagers and it got no business, we tried to enjoy it but when someone pointed a laser machine gun at me and I instinctively dropped behind the nearest wall and reached to turn off my phone I cried, I wasn’t the only one. The announcements system turns on at an unexpected time and everyone holds their breath until they say something besides “locks, lights, out of sight,” nobody even jokingly pops chip bags anymore, a door slammed really loud during a class change and everyone dropped and ran. Everyone cries during drills, even the toughest ranch kids. Every drill comes with a full day of teachers crying and telling us that they love us all so much and will die for us, and every kid in every class looking around wondering who would I die for? Who would die for me? You walk to the bathroom and wonder every second if it happens right now, where will I go? You test supply closet doors to see which ones are unlocked, you memorize which furniture in the teachers’ lounge your English teacher says is light enough to barricade a door with. The fire alarm goes off and nobody moves, instead you wait for gunshots—it a trap? You stand with a group of freshmen and realize that you’re the oldest, you know you’ll have to die for them. You forget your ID tag and worry that now the police won’t be able to tell your parents if you’re safe, or not safe. Your stats teacher has a baseball bat by the door, your math teacher keeps a stapler under each desk to throw, your drama teacher asks who will be willing to stand by the non-locking door with the Shakespearean swords. Your yearbook teacher tells you don’t worry about breaking a camera because you heard about the kids who died holding them. You don’t use the bathroom during classes because you don’t want to be the only target to shoot at. You keep your phone on silent 24/7 because you worry the one time you forget will be when you get your whole US History class killed. You have a snap saved with your class schedule and school and full name to send in an instant to your internet friends so they know if you were on that wing, you have a note saved with the things you want your mom to know and the things you’re sorry for. At the age of 12 I was told I needed to know who I would die for and that it was okay if it was nobody, that was my decision to make. School shootings control us more than adults and non-Americans could possibly imagine and nobody moves to change anything unless we’re actively screaming for it. Have you considered we’re too scared?
The absolute fuck. The fuck did I just read. This sounds like dystopian fiction. The fucking fuck.
It isn’t. This is 100% the reality of all American children - not the ones that live in bad neighborhoods, not the ones that make bad choices, ALL OF THEM.
Welcome to America.
My graduating class was 2010.
You know what we had to worry about?
Graduation. College admissions. Our grades. And not slipping up and getting ourselves or someone else pregnant.
This. This is heartbreaking. This is infuriating. This makes my entire being grieving and angry.
Why is gun ownership more important than the safety of children?! Why does anyone think this is okay?!
Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas was the latest target of a mass shooting in the United States. According to the Texas Depertment of Public Safety, the suspect had shot his grandmother in the face before driving to the school with the intent to, “[shoot] every single person that was in front of him.” The grandmother is reportedly at the hospital in critical condition. Two fourth-grade teachers died trying to protect their students, and 19 children aged nine to eleven years old died. About a dozen more people were injured.
The 18-year-old suspect possessed the firearm legally. He had posted on social media beforehand of his intentions to kill his grandmother and attack a school.
Police forces stood outside of the classroom for an hour deliberating on what to do. Many of the children did not die upon being shot, but rather bled out in the time it took for law enforcement to enter the room.
This is the second most deadly school shooting in US history, with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting in Parkland, Florida being third, and the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut being first.
On December 14, 2012, Sandy Hook Elementary School suffered the most deadly school shooting in United States history, where 20 children and 7 adults were murdered. In the near decade since Sandy Hook took place, school shootings have only managed to grow more common in the Unitied States, with 948 schools being targeted since the 2012 tragedy.
In the United States, gun violence is the most common cause of death among adolescents, with 1 out of every 10 gun-related deaths happening among people under 19. After the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, around 300,000 students have been on-campus during an active school shooting.
It is an utter embarrassment as a country, that no substantial preventative action has been taken to reduce the risk of a firearm ever entering the premises of an educational facility.
Our country is stuck in a perpetual cycle, where we fight over gun control and/or restrictions with no attempt to compromise or brainstorm ideas together that would keep this from happening to our children, then we forget about the issue a week later until another tragedy strikes.
If your egos are really worth more than the safety of our most precious citizens, then you should take a long look in the mirror and ask why. If you do not want to face gun control/restrictions, give alternative solutions to fix the problem, rather than simply block all action on the matter while giving out your empty thoughts and prayers.
Thoughts and prayers are not enough. We need real change, now.
Here are some resources if you want to learn more about this issue, or if you wish to help the victims of this tragedy:
At the time the Second Amendment was written in 1791, the military’s personal firearms were muskets and flintlock pistols. Muskets can fire one round at a time before reloading; in the most expertly trained and talented hands, a musket could fire THREE rounds per MINUTE. Three. The Founding Fathers could not have conceived of a weapon in the hands of an untrained citizen that could kill dozens more than their experts could fire in the same amount of time.
Should citizens have access to firearms? Yes. Should the United States have gun control laws? Also yes. This is not an oxymoron.
Students across the country walked out of their classrooms to demand action from lawmakers to protect them from the rising wave of gun violence. The group Students Demand Action organized the walkouts after the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
OMAHA, Nebraska — Students at Omaha Benson High School organized a walkout Thursday afternoon.
The walkout was in protest of this week’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. It wasn’t how these students planned to spend their last few days of school this year, but they don’t feel as though they have a choice.
“School shouldn’t be a hunting ground, it’s the place where we’re supposed to learn and become successful. When we fear for our lives we can’t do that,” sophomore Bunny Galindo told KETV NewsWatch 7. …
Fourth-grade teacher Irma Garcia was one of two faculty members killed on Tuesday during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. On Thursday morning, her husband and high school sweetheart Joe died from what family members said was a “medical emergency.”
“I truly believe Joe died of a broken heart,” Irma Garcia’s cousin Debra Austin wrote on a GoFundMe page. “Losing the love of his life of more than 25 years was too much to bear.” …
San Antonio Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich Gregg Popovich: I Shouldn’t Be Able to Buy an AR-15, Neither Should You
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich spoke at a ‘Stand with Uvalde’ rally Saturday, referenced AR-15s, and said, “I shouldn’t be able to buy one, you shouldn’t be able to buy one.”
Outkick.com reported Popovich’s participation in the rally.
Popovich’s statements on AR-15s came after he held up Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) as an example of a politician who is supporting gun control in the wake of the Uvalde attack. On May 27, 2022, Breitbart News noted that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tapped Cornyn to work with Democrats in pursuit of “bipartisan” gun control.”
After mentioning Cornyn, Popovich turned to the topic of the Uvalde attacker and criticized his ability to get a gun.
He said:
“Nobody’s trying to take away anybody’s guns, nobody. But they said that this 18-year-old, he probably had mental challenges, but they gave him a gun.
They gave him an AR-15.
They didn’t give him a hunting rifle, they didn’t give him a handgun, and the things that’s amazing to me about that.”
Popovich then started to ask why an 18-year-old can buy an AR-15 but redirected his point to say,
“Wait a minute, why can anybody buy an AR-15?
I shouldn’t be able to buy one, you shouldn’t be able to buy one.
Bill Maher: School Attacker’s Advantage Is Not Gun Type But Time
On Friday, HBO’s Bill Maher made clear the Uvalde school attacker’s advantage was not the type of gun he used but the amount of time he had to use it.
Maher said,
“I mean, this kid was in the room for 40 minutes before anybody came in. It wouldn’t have mattered what kind of gun he had. Any kind of gun could do any amount of damage in that time.”
On May 27, 2022, a Breitbart News op-ed noted, “We must understand that the attacker’s advantage in a school shooting is not so much the type of firearm he uses but the time he has without armed resistance and the degree of surprise that results from the launch of his attack.”
When there is no armed guard present to stop the attacker and no perimeter fencing, or there is weak perimeter fencing, and there are no armed teachers, the attacker has time on his side when he gets inside the school.
Consider Maher’s words again: “I mean, this kid was in the room for 40 minutes before anybody came in.”
Breitbart News noted that the February 14, 2018, Parkland attacker had time to pause and reload five times during his rampage. The Sandy Hook Elementary School attacker had more than nine minutes without armed resistance.
In addition, the “teacher left a door propped open” was debunked by video footage.
In case anyone wants a recap of what happened on Tuesday in regards to the police response (correlated by Brynn Tannehill on Twitter & other sources). Here is the failure we know so far, with more to come out:
- The armed school officer watched him enter the building, didn’t stop him, & just sat & waited for backup. We’ve been told that armed cops assigned to schools were supposed to stop this from ever happening.
- The heavily armed & geared up officers all waited 60 minutes before entering the school while kids bled out, wasting a golden hour. They could have saved the lives of some children who were shot if they had received medical attention in time.
- A child repeatedly called 911 during the hour the gunman was inside, per press briefing. Gunshots could be heard over the line. “Please send the police now,” the child begged. Texas DPS official says the on-scene commander believed the active shooter situation had ended & children were no longer at risk. “It was the wrong decision,” he said.
- The officers tazed, pepper-sprayed, handcuffed, & arrested parents who were begging them to go in, all while still hearing shots being fired inside of the school.
- Angeli Rose Gomez, a mother of 2 students, drove 40 miles to the school when she heard about the shooting. After arriving, she was quickly handcuffed for “intervening in an active crime scene” & eventually persuaded law enforcement to release her. She moved away from the crowd, hopped the school fence, sprinted inside the school to grab her children, & made it out of the school with them alive.
- When officers did enter the school, they went to rescue their own kids rather than deal with the shooter & promptly went back out of the building to resume hanging out with the other officers.
- At one point, a few fathers got fed up, broke a classroom window, & started pulling children out themselves.
- Officers lied & said that the shooter barricaded the door when it was just locked. They said that they were incapable of knocking down or opening the locked door to the classroom where the shooter was, so they had a school employee come do it for them with a key, putting that employee’s life in extreme danger.
- Uvalde SWAT team had done a walkthrough of the school in February to prepare for a situation like this.
- Outside observers say Uvalde police ignored every lesson learned since Columbine.
- When the police did enter the classroom, they failed to neutralize the shooter first. As a result, another child died due to their incompetence because one of the cops hollered out, “Yell if you need help!” A girl called out “Help!” The shooter instantly shot her.
- It was an off-duty border patrol officer who went in & took down the shooter without any backup while the local police were outside handcuffing & tazing parents & claiming they were waiting for more & more & more backup. (This has been updated to say the individual mentioned removed children from the school, not taken down the shooter)
- Initially lied about the timeline, lied about what the shooter was wearing, lied about their response, lied about a “barricade,” lied about multiple details.
- Police is 40% of Uvalde’s budget.
- Initial reports by police that they pursued & pinned down the shooter in a classroom were false. In reality, the shooter had plenty of time & locked himself in a classroom.
*And the best part, because of the Supreme Court decision in Castle Rock v. Gonzales, a 2005 decision delivered by Scalia, no matter how incompetent, cowardly, or negligent officers are, they cannot be held accountable.*
Edit: all this info can be found at Washington Post, NPR, Huffington Post, the Associated Press, NBC, New York Times, & many more, as well as cell phone videos released by the parents at the scene.
![Mind Map #47: [Tragedy reminds us to love] *Note: The drawing of the man and child is loosely based](https://64.media.tumblr.com/4dd6ca2f79e820abf2c145255d03f106/tumblr_mf3y60p8Ui1ru4tgjo1_1280.jpg "Mind Map #47: [Tragedy reminds us to love] *Note: The drawing of the man and child is loosely based")
