Chappell, Deric, Charles Hutchinson, Quin Thompson, Elijah Dybdahl and Corey Smith

Title:
Attitudes Towards Guns

Abstract:
Past studies have examined attitudes towards guns based on gender, aggression, political views, and many other factors. (Branscombe, 1991; Hargrove, 2015; Covington, 2018). In academia, there is a predisposition to be anti-gun and to the best of our knowledge, we will be the first study that will compare the factors of students and their fear of crime influencing their attitude towards guns. While other studies have shown a positive relationship between a higher fear of crime and a higher positive attitude towards guns, (Gunn, Ter Horst, Markossian, & Molina. 2018) this relationship may not be true among a college population due to the notorious anti-gun climate on university campuses. We surveyed 125 students at a mid-sized southwestern university by using convenience sampling of students in Criminal Justice classes, to see if their fear of crime influences how they feel regarding gun ownership. Based on our quantitative data of questions of our surveys, the analysis plan that would work best with our study is OLS regression because our dependent variable is measured at the ratio level. Our hypothesis was not supported based on the fact that the fear of crime did not influence people's attitudes towards guns. However, we did find an effect on perceptions being affected more by their personal preferences towards guns. Implications will be discussed.

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