Researchers have considered the role of perceived threat and fear of crime in shaping attitudes about gun regulation. We contribute to this literature by examining whether gun owners, who tend to oppose gun regulations, moderate their gun views when exposed to a gun-related threat. We argue that although exposure to threat can increase the desire to be armed, gun owners primed with a threat may soften their views on gun regulation relative to non-gun owners. We employ an experiment embedded within a nationally representative survey to test our hypotheses. Our analysis of the data from our survey supports the notion that gun owners generally oppose gun regulations, but exposure to a gun-related threat moderates their opposition to gun regulations. We discuss the limitations of our study and conclude with a discussion of the implications of these results for understanding public support for gun regulation in America.

研究人员已经考虑了感知威胁和对犯罪的恐惧在塑造枪支管制态度方面的作用。我们通过研究倾向于反对枪支法规的枪支拥有者在面临与枪支相关的威胁时是否会缓和他们对枪支的看法，从而为该文献做出贡献。我们认为，尽管暴露于威胁会增加武装的愿望，但面对威胁的枪支拥有者可能会相对于非枪支拥有者软化他们对枪支管制的看法。我们采用嵌入在全国代表性调查中的实验来检验我们的假设。我们对调查数据的分析支持这样一种观点，即枪支拥有者通常反对枪支法规，但接触枪支相关威胁会缓和他们对枪支法规的反对。