2000 / 2004 / 2008 / 2012
Make it more difficult / 57.6 / 51.7 / 41.4 / 41.8
Keep about the same / 38.7 / 44.0 / 54.8 / 52.2
Make it easier / 3.7 / 4.3 / 3.8 / 5.9
ANES Question: “Do you think the federal government should make it more difficult for people to buy a gun than it is now, make it easier for people to buy a gun, or keep these rules about the same as they are now?”
Note: weighted, whites only.
Appendix B: ANES Items and Coding
Symbolic Racism
Now I'm going to read several more statements. After each one, I would like you to tell me how strongly you agree or disagree.
- 'Irish, Italians, Jewish and many other minorities overcame prejudice and worked their way up. Blacks should do the same without any special favors.'
- 'Generations of slavery and discrimination have created conditions that make it difficult for blacks to work their way out of the lower class.'
- 'Over the past few years, blacks have gotten less than they deserve.'
- 'It's really a matter of some people not trying hard enough; if blacks would only try harder they could be just as well off as whites.'
(Do you agree strongly, agree somewhat, neither agree nor disagree, disagree somewhat, or disagree strongly with this statement?)
Gun Ownership
Do you happen to have in your home or garage any guns or revolvers? (Yes/No)
Crime Spending: Increase
Should federal spending on dealing with crime be increased, decreased, or kept about the same?
Egalitarianism
(Do you agree strongly, agree somewhat, neither agree nor disagree, disagree somewhat, or disagree strongly with this statement?)
- 'Our society should do whatever is necessary to make sure that everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed.'
- 'One of the big problems in this country is that we don't give everyone an equal chance.'
- 'If people were treated more equally in this country we would have many fewer problems.'
- 'We have gone too far in pushing equal rights in this country.'
- 'This country would be better off if we worried less about how equal people are.'
- 'It is not really that big a problem if some people have more of a chance in life than others.'
Small Government
- “One, the main reason government has become bigger over the years is because it has gotten involved in things that people should do for themselves; or two, government has become bigger because the problems we face have become bigger.”
- “One, we need a strong government to handle today's complexeconomic problems; or two, the free market can handle these problems without government being involved.”
- “One, the less government, the better; or two, there are more things that government should be doing?”
Authoritarianism
Please tell me which one you think is more important for a child to have:
- Independence or respect for elders.
- Curiosity or good manners.
- Obedience or self-reliance.
- Being considerate or well behaved.
Appendix C: Means of Predictors Used in ANES Analyses (whites only).
Predictor / ANES 2000 / ANES 2004 / ANES 2008 / ANES 2012
Symbolic Racism / 0.64 / 0.64 / 0.64 / 0.67
Gun in Household / — / 0.46 / 0.43 / 0.41
Increase Spending: Crime / 0.82 / 0.81 / 0.78 / 0.69
Republicanism (PID) / 0.50 / 0.55 / 0.52 / 0.53
Conservatism (Ideology) / 0.53 / 0.54 / 0.55 / 0.53
Conservatism - Not Known / 0.08 / 0.04 / 0.03 / 0.06
Small gov’t / 0.44 / 0.44 / 0.44 / 0.56
Egalitarianism / 0.59 / 0.60 / 0.60 / 0.56
Authoritarianism / 0.59 / 0.55 / 0.59 / 0.58
Age 30-44 / 0.32 / 0.25 / 0.22 / 0.24
Age 45-64 / 0.31 / 0.38 / 0.38 / 0.38
Age 65 & over / 0.19 / 0.19 / 0.20 / 0.21
Female / 0.56 / 0.51 / 0.54 / 0.51
Protestant / 0.39 / 0.37 / 0.35 / 0.45
South / 0.28 / 0.26 / 0.40 / 0.27
Income / 0.29 / 0.62 / 0.60 / 0.54
Income - Not Known / 0.09 / 0.10 / 0.04 / 0.02
Education / 0.52 / 0.53 / 0.55 / 0.50
*Note: "Gun in household" item not included in 2000 ANES survey.
**All predictors are coded on a 0-1 scale.
Appendix E: Descriptive Statistics of Variables From the 2013 Recontact Data & 2012 ANES Subset
Oppose / Neither / Support
Require Background Check / 10.13 / 16.95 / 72.92
Ban Large Magazines / 30.77 / 26.40 / 42.83
Ban Assault Weapons / 24.79 / 22.25 / 52.96
Predictor / Mean / Std. Dev.
Symbolic Racism / 0.68 / 0.23
Gun in Household / 0.43 / 0.50
Increase Spending: Crime / 0.65 / 0.33
Republicanism (PID) / 0.54 / 0.35
Conservatism (Ideology) / 0.57 / 0.25
Conservatism - Not Known / 0.00 / 0.04
Small gov’t / 0.62 / 0.40
Egalitarianism / 0.54 / 0.20
Age 30-44 / 0.23 / 0.42
Age 45-64 / 0.35 / 0.48
Age 65 & over / 0.22 / 0.41
Female / 0.51 / 0.50
Protestant / 0.33 / 0.47
South / 0.26 / 0.44
Income / 0.54 / 0.28
Income - Not Known / 0.00 / 0.07
Education / 0.50 / 0.28
* Weighted; whites only.
**All predictors are coded on a 0-1 scale.
Appendix F: Screenshots of racial prime
Appendix G: Items from Experiment Used to Measure Gun Policy Preferences
Item / Support/agree (Net)Do you think the federal government should make it more difficult for people to buy a gun than it is now, make it easier for people to buy a gun, or keep these rules about the same as they are now? (ANES item) / 55.8%
Policy Items
A required 5-day waiting period to purchase a firearm* / 84.6%
An assault style weapons ban (e.g.,semi-automatic weapons)* (ANES item) / 62.8%
Limits on the number of guns that people can own* / 57.2%
Create a federal database of all gun sales / 78.3%
A ban on high capacity ammunition magazines (ANES item) / 82.7%
Require trigger locks that can only be released by the gun owner / 82.7%
A ban on all handguns / 22.9%
Belief Items
Having a gun protects the owner from crime / 57.7%
Having a gun is dangerous because it can lead to an accident* / 60.6%
You don’t need a gun if you live in a safe neighborhood* / 24.6%
People should only have guns suitable for hunting or sports / 41.6%
People who own handguns are up to no good / 9.8%
I would feel safer with a gun in my house* / 56.5%
You don’t need a gun if your town has a responsive police force / 24.6%
People need guns to protect themselves from government / 29.4%
An asterisk (*) indicates that the treatment was a statistically significant individual predictor.
Appendix H: Summary Descriptive Statistics of Experimental Subjects (1179 Subjects)
Variable / Mean / Std. Dev. / Min. / Max.
Gun Belief Index / 3.361 / 1.801 / 0 / 8
Gun Proposal Index / 4.356 / 1.822 / 0 / 7
Symbolic Racism / 0.622 / 0.225 / 0 / 1
Treatment / 0.500 / 0.500 / 0 / 1
Age 30-44 / 0.247 / 0.431 / 0 / 1
Age 45-64 / 0.362 / 0.481 / 0 / 1
Age 65 plus / 0.187 / 0.390 / 0 / 1
Female / 0.514 / 0.500 / 0 / 1
Protestant / 0.538 / 0.499 / 0 / 1
Education (BA) / 0.367 / 0.482 / 0 / 1
Income ($50K) / 0.411 / 0.492 / 0 / 1
Partisanship / 0.463 / 0.320 / 0 / 1
Republican / 0.226 / 0.418 / 0 / 1
Independent / 0.466 / 0.499 / 0 / 1
Democrat / 0.309 / 0.462 / 0 / 1
Ideology / 0.516 / 0.274 / 0 / 1