Study Finds Causal Link Between Media Coverage And Gun Buying Frenzies

By Tom Knighton

Immediately after a mass shooting, it seems the gun stores become inundated with people looking to buy new guns. In particular, they often ask for something similar to what the killer used.

This has been interpreted by some as evidence that gun owners are sick people. After all, they think those who want those guns only want them because they’ve been “proven” or something. They think we want them because the killer used them to slaughter the innocent.

Nothing is further from the truth, though.

I’ve long maintained that those buying frenzies are spurred by concerns over gun control coming in and making those guns unavailable.

There’s now a study that suggests there is a causal link between these gun buying surges and the media coverage of gun control.

For the first time, researchers have shown a causal link between print news media coverage of U.S. gun control policy in the wake of mass shooting events and increases in firearm acquisition, particularly in states with the least restrictive gun laws.

The results of a study led by researchers at NYU Tandon School of Engineering, in collaboration with faculty at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and Northeastern University, are rooted in a …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms