Feelings toward gun owners
Chapter 5 examines the portrayal of gun owners and considers how this may impact people feelings toward them. Prior studies show that people consult their feelings when estimating risk—labeled the affect heuristic. Statistical analyses demonstrate that people’s feelings (favorable or unfavorable) toward gun owners powerfully determine their assessments of personal and public safety. If people favor gun owners, they believe concealed carry laws improve public safety and guns are not threats to personal security. If people dislike gun owners, they feel threatened by guns and disapprove of concealed carry policies. An interpretation of this finding suggests that people are not necessarily threatened by guns but rather by people who own guns.
The open and concealed carry of firearms at public colleges and universities in Florida : perceptions and attitudes of campus public safety directors
