From Fortune · Jillian Turanovic · · 3m
Gen Z split on guns despite shared fear of shootings
Young voters care deeply about mass shootings but disagree sharply on whether gun control is the answer.
In brief
Young voters care deeply about mass shootings but disagree sharply on whether gun control is the answer. Gen Z voters fear mass shootings more than older Americans but divide along political lines on gun control, with conservative young men opposing restrictions even as fear rises. Originally reported by Fortune.
Nearly 50 million young voters heading to midterms
About sixty percent of Americans ages eighteen to twenty-nine say they plan to vote in the upcoming midterm elections, which would break turnout records for voters under thirty.
Gun control matters more to young voters
Gun control is an issue young voters care about more than the public at large does, because mass shootings have been a recurring part of American life in their lifetime.
Some students survive two mass shootings before twenty-five
When a gunman opened fire at Brown University in December twenty twenty-five, at least two students on campus had already experienced a school shooting before college.
Parkland survivors caught in another shooting
In April twenty twenty-five, students who lived through the twenty eighteen Parkland, Florida shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School found themselves caught in another shooting at Florida State University.
“This is America.”
The massacre generation grows up with lockdown drills
Researchers call today's young adults the massacre generation, the first to grow up entirely in the post-nine-eleven, post-Columbine era with routine lockdown drills and heightened school security.
Fear of shootings divides young adults by politics
A survey of nearly one thousand seven hundred young adults ages eighteen to twenty-nine found that fear of mass shootings pulls this generation apart along political and gender lines.
Two competing arguments after every shooting
Gun control advocates call for stricter firearm restrictions to prevent mass shootings, while gun rights advocates push the good guy with a gun argument, saying more armed citizens stop active shooters.
More guns linked to more mass shootings
A twenty twenty-one study found mass shootings were more common in states with higher rates of gun ownership, and gun homicides were more common in states with looser concealed carry laws.
Young voters split despite shared fear
More than sixty percent of young adults reported moderate or high levels of fear of mass shootings. About two-thirds said people should need a permit to carry guns in public.
Fear pushes conservative men toward gun rights
Young adults who worried more about mass shootings tended to support gun control, but this pattern did not hold for young men, Republicans or those politically conservative. For these groups, the opposite was true.
What to remember
Gen Z voters fear mass shootings more than older Americans but divide along political lines on gun control, with conservative young men opposing restrictions even as fear rises.
