Public support for safe-storage laws: White nationalism and politics as barriers to evidence-based gun policy

Abstract

Devastating incidents in which children have accessed their parents' unsecured guns and used them to kill themselves or others have occurred with alarming frequency across the United States. Although strong evidence exists that safe-storage laws decrease firearm-related child deaths and suicides, the United States does not regulate gun storage at the federal level, and few states have gun storage laws. In this context, the current study examines public support for safe-storage laws, and the association of such support with racial and political attitudes. Using survey-experimental data from a population-matched national sample recruited by YouGov (n = 1018), we find widespread support among the American public for safe-storage legislation, both globally and in the specific case of criminalizing parents' unsafe gun storage. Public support for holding parents accountable is highest when young children obtain especially deadly guns (AR-15) and shoot others. Our findings further reveal that public attitudes toward safe-storage laws are racialized and politicized. White nationalists report lower support for safe-storage laws, and this association is mediated by right-wing political views.