Doctoral Dissertation Research: Mass Shootings and the Gun Control and Gun Rights Movements

大规模枪击事件与枪支管制和枪支权利运动本研究考察了枪支管制和枪支权利运动对2012年12月14日桑迪胡克小学枪击事件的反应，以及他们的努力对政策的影响。该研究还将试图解释为什么29个州放松了枪支限制，而16个州在枪击事件发生后的两年内收紧了限制。本研究采用两种分析方法。首先，为了确定枪支管制和枪支权利运动是如何应对这一事件的，Co-PI比较了两个不同的案例，以评估两个主要的国家枪支管制组织和两个主要的国家枪支权利组织如何以及是否在2011年至2014年间改变了他们的政策议程、目标、策略和组织结构。其次，联合调查使用定性比较分析来说明为什么在2011-2012年和2013-2014年立法会议期间，一些州加强了枪支限制，而另一些州放松了限制。本研究结果对研究社会运动、公共卫生、国家级政策变化和专业政治组织的学者有一定的参考价值。此外，本研究将有助于公众对美国社会运动的认识和论述。本论文通过解释运动组织如何应对关键事件以及为什么法律有时会在随后的政治辩论中发生变化，为社会运动战略和政策结果的学术文献做出了贡献。文献中一致认为，关键事件对社会运动很重要。然而，人们对反对运动组织如何应对这些事件的变化知之甚少，或者这些反应是如何被政治背景的其他特征和每个组织所调解的？S自己的内部约束。类似地，学者们已经确定，关键事件可以动摇政治议程，促进政策变化。但是，对于在此类事件发生后促成政策变化的条件，或者这些条件是否与事件发生前促成类似政策变化的条件不同，我们仍然知之甚少。联合调查小组将对两个重要的枪支管制组织和两个重要的枪支权利组织在2011年至2014年期间的组织结构、目标、策略和政治议程进行深入的案例研究。为了回答第二个问题，她将进行模糊集定性比较分析（fsQCA），以确定哪些因素导致了枪击事件前后立法会议中州一级枪支限制的变化。研究人员将比较导致四种不同的国家级政策结果的条件。本文有两个目的：1)详细说明政治组织如何应对关键事件；2)确定在此类事件发生后州法律发生变化的条件。本研究结果对研究社会运动、公共卫生、国家级政策变化和专业政治组织的学者有一定的参考价值。这项研究也将有助于美国的公共知识和话语。

Mass Shootings and the Gun Control and Gun Rights MovementsPI: David S. MeyerCo-PI: Eulalie LascheverThis study examines how the gun control and gun rights movements responded to the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012, and the policy impact of their efforts. The research will also attempt to explain why 29 states relaxed firearms restrictions, while 16 states tightened restrictions in the two years that followed the shooting. This study employs two methods of analysis. First, to determine how the gun control and gun rights movements responded to the event, the Co-PI compares two different cases to assess how and if two major national gun control organizations and two major national gun rights organizations changed their policy agendas, targets,tactics, and organizational structures between 2011 and 2014. Second, the co-PI uses qualitative comparative analysis to show why some states strengthened firearms restrictions while others relaxed restrictions during the 2011-2012 and the 2013-2014 legislative sessions. The findings of this study will be useful to scholars who study social movements, public health, state-level policy change, and professional political organizations. In addition, this study will contribute to public knowledge and discourse about social movements in America.This dissertation contributes to the academic literatures on social movement strategy and on policy outcomes by explaining how movement organizations respond to critical events and why laws sometimes change during the political debate that follows them. There is agreement in the literature that critical events are important for social movements. Little is known, however, about how opposing movement organizations change in response to such events, or how these responses are mediated by other features of the political context and by each organization?s own internal constraints. Similarly, scholars have established that critical events can shake up the political agenda and facilitate policy change. But we still know little about the conditions that facilitate policy change after such events, or whether these conditions are distinct from those that fostered similar policy changes before the event occurred. The Co-PI will conduct intensive case studies of two important gun control organizations and two important gun rights organizations about their organizational structures, targets, tactics, and political agendas between 2011 and 2014. To answer the second question, she will conduct fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to determine what factors led to changes in state-level firearms restrictions in the legislative sessions before and after the shooting. The researcher will compare the conditions that led to four different state-level policy outcomes. This dissertation has two objectives: 1) to detail how political organizations respond to critical events; and 2) to determine the conditions under which state laws change after such events. The findings of this study will be useful to scholars who study social movements, public health, state-level policy change, and professional political organizations. This study will also contribute to public knowledge and discourse in America.