Citation

Fleming A, Rutledge PE, Peralta JS, Woodward Griffin V. Midsouth Polit. Sci. Rev. 2022; 22: 71-96.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Arkansas Political Science Association and Arkansas Tech University)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

How do presidents frame gun control policy? Only months before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a major gun control bill was already making its way through Congress. Yet, it would take almost five years and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and Senator Robert F. Kennedy before a gun bill was signed into law. Even more puzzling, President Johnson remained virtually silent on gun control during much of this period of time. Recently, as firearm focusing events have risen, gun control has become a consistent part of Democratic Presidential agendas, while Republicans have shifted how they talk about gun control towards punitive and lenient measures. In this paper, we analyze presidential statements from Presidents Johnson to Obama and outline the evolution of presidential framing of gun policy. In particular, we show that presidents have used a combination of restrictive, punitive, and lenient frames to discuss gun control policy and to stand on opposing sides of the gun control issue, with a significant rise in division among party lines being notable in the post-Reagan Era. Whereas Democratic Presidents tend to respond quickly to firearm focusing events, advocating for restrictive measures, Republican Presidents have shifted over time to responding more slowly, and advocating for punitive and lenient measures relating to gun control

Language: en