Youth Opinions About Guns and Gun Control in the United States

Abstract

This survey study reports the opinions regarding guns and gun control legislation from a sample of youths in the United States.

Young activists and mass-shooting survivors in the United States have recently been organizing protests and demanding increased gun control measures. Although national polls have tracked adult opinions about gun control policies for decades, little is known about how youth feel about guns and/or gun control. Because the youth perspective is a powerful factor in the public debate, the goal of this study was to characterize youth opinions on guns and gun control.

Methods

Participants came from the National MyVoice Text Message Cohort¹ and were recruited through targeted Facebook and Instagram advertisements to match national benchmarks based on weighted samples from the 2016 American Community Survey, including age, gender, race/ethnicity, educational level, family income, and region of the country. MyVoice is a large-scale longitudinal mixed methods study of youth. Although MyVoice is not a nationally representative sample, participants are recruited on the basis of the American Community Survey benchmarks to ensure a meaningful and diverse sample. This study was approved by the University of Michigan Institutional Review Board. Consent was obtained from participants; parental consent was waived.

Between July 2017 and January 2018, MyVoice participants (n = 1153) were asked the following questions using an open-ended text message survey: (1) What are your thoughts about having guns in your home? (2) Do you think gun control laws would affect mass shootings? Why? (3) Who, if anyone, should not be allowed to own guns? The investigative team (M.V.S., A.L.M., K.R.S., and T.C.) identified themes in text message responses. The presence of each theme was then independently coded (interrater reliability for each theme was 95%).

Results

Among 1153 participants, 772 responded to the survey (response rate, 67%). Demographic characteristics of these 772 respondents (458 [59.3%] female; 544 [70.7%] white; mean [SD] age, 18.32 [3.14] years) are shown in Table 1. Table 2 summarizes themes and responses and gives representative quotations. Approximately one-third of youths in the sample (263 of 772 [34%]) were “against” guns in the home, and the remaining two-thirds (506 of 772 [66%]) were either “pro” or “conditionally pro” guns in the home, stating that gun ownership is acceptable under certain conditions, such as when there is proper storage for the gun or when it is kept away from children. Most respondents (468 of 757 [62%]) believed that gun control laws could decrease mass shootings (“Yes!! They would make it harder to get guns right away, or at all if u have a record of crime or instability”). However, one-third of respondents (247 of 757 [33%]) felt that gun control laws would not be enough to affect mass shootings (“Bad people will still find a way to get what they want and the good people will not be able to protect themselves”). Respondents were particularly concerned about gun access for individuals with mental illness, criminal records, and histories of violence.

Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of the Study Sample.

Characteristic	No. (%) of Responders
Age, mean (SD) (n = 772)	18.32 (3.14)
Gender (n = 770)
Male	269 (34.9)
Female	458 (59.5)
Other	43 (5.6)
Race (n = 770)
White	544 (70.7)
Black	61 (7.9)
Asian	81 (10.5)
Othera	84 (10.9)
Hispanic/Latino (n = 770)
Yes	93 (12.1)
No	677 (87.9)
Free/reduced lunch (n = 764)
Yes	224 (29.3)
No	540 (70.7)
Primary residence (n = 764)
Parent	480 (62.8)
Spouse and/or children	44 (5.8)
Dormitory	48 (6.3)
Apartment with others	154 (20.2)
Alone	23 (3.0)
Other	15 (2.0)
Parent marital status (n = 764)
Married/together	558 (73.0)
Divorced/separated	168 (22.0)
Other	38 (5.0)

^aAmerican Indian or Alaska Native; Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.

Table 2. Questions, Themes, Responses, and Representative Quotations.

Question, Theme	No. (%) (N = 772)	Representative Quotation
What are your thoughts about having guns in your home?
Pro	214 (28)	“Although personally I don't have any, I believe it is our right as Americans to own guns to protect ourself from all threats, thanks to the second amendment. When I'm an adult, I'll own weapons without a doubt.”
		“Well I'm from Detroit so it's a necessity.”
		“My dad has guns in the home. I go hunting with him. I feel safer if there is a gun in the house.”
Conditional	292 (38)	“It's alright to have 1 or 2 for protection, but they must be locked away very carefully so they may not be reached by children. And there is no need for a whole arsenal.”
		“I think if someone wants to own a gun for protection or hunting, they should be able to only if they keep said guns in a gun safe.”
		“I think it's fine as long as they aren't automatic/semiautomatic and are stored in a gun safe.”
Against	263 (34)	“They are a threat. Dangerous. The main point is to kill. Why would I want that?”
		“A home is not a place for guns.”
		“I wish no one had guns.”
Do you think gun control laws would affect mass shootings? Why?
Yes, mass shootings would decrease	468 (62)	“Yes it would limit access and it worked in Australia.”
		“Yes!! They would make it harder to get guns right away, or at all if you have a record of crime or instability.”
		“Yes. Less guns, less deaths. Basic logic.”
Yes, mass shootings would increase	16 (2)	“Yes. Gun control laws take guns away from law-abiding citizens while not stopping criminals from getting them. If gun control laws were stronger, there would be more mass shootings, and more people killed.”
		“If there were stricter gun control laws that might upset some people and lead to mass shootings.”
		“Yes, people tend to do things more often when they are put on restrictions.”
No impact on mass shootings	247 (33)	“No, I do not. Bad people will still find a way to get what they want and the good people will not be able to protect themselves.”
		“No, mental health care is needed instead.”
		“Not really, we have gun laws now and there are still mass shootings.”
Don’t know	19 (3)	“I'm not entirely sure. It might mitigate mass shootings to some extent, but other issues would arise.”
		“Maybe, because sometimes the guns used are unchecked.”
		“I think it could have some effect. I think I would need more specific examples to be able to decide.”
Who, if anyone, should not be allowed to own guns?a
Mentally ill	373 (50)	“Mentally ill people, but not people with simple things such as anxiety.”
Criminal record	372 (50)	“Obviously convicted criminals of felonies more serious than just traffic violations should not be allowed to.”
Violent	168 (22)	“Anyone with a history of being a danger to themselves/others.”

^aYouths could endorse more than 1 theme in their response.

Discussion

The response rate exceeded 60%, which has been used as the threshold of acceptability and a measure of survey quality.² However, possible limitations of this study include self-selection bias and systematic differences between responders and nonresponders regarding their perspectives on gun control.

Our findings revealed that the nuances of gun control in the United States are not lost on youth. Although most youths in the sample felt that individuals should have the right to own guns, the majority of youths believed that gun control laws would reduce mass shootings. Our findings are consistent with earlier studies of high school students that showed that, although many students supported access to guns,³ most also supported more restrictive gun control policies.⁴ Our findings also align with recent polls of adults showing that the United States is polarized on this issue, with 42% of adults having a gun in the home and 48% in favor of an assault rifle ban.⁵

Youths, having been the target of several mass shootings, are positioning themselves as both the present and the future of the gun control debate and are taking the lead in the public discourse. Similar to their adult counterparts, most youths in our study were not suggesting a ban on all guns or repeal of the Second Amendment; instead, they supported legislative action that they believed would make their country safer.