Warped narratives : distortion in the framing of gun policy / Melissa K. Merry.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Merry, Melissa K., author.

Contributor:

Michigan Publishing (University of Michigan), issuing body.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gun control--United States.

Gun control.

Firearms--Law and legislation--United States.

Firearms.

Firearms--Social aspects--United States.

Pressure groups--United States.

Pressure groups.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (237 pages)

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press, 2020.

Summary:

The politics of gun policy in the United States are dramatic. Against the backdrop of daily gun violence--which claims more than 33,000 lives per year--gun control groups push for stronger regulations, while gun rights groups resist infringements upon their Second Amendment rights. To illuminate the dynamics of this polarized debate, Warped Narratives examines how and why interest groups frame the gun violence problem in particular ways and explores the implication of groups' framing choices for policymaking and politics. Melissa K. Merry argues the gun policy area is warped, and that both gun control and gun rights organizations contribute to the distortion of the issue by focusing on atypical characters and settings in their policy narratives. Gun control groups emphasize white victims, child victims, and mass shootings in suburban locales, while gun rights groups focus on self-defense shootings, highlighting threats to "law-abiding" gun owners. In reality, most gun deaths are the result of suicide, and homicides occur disproportionately in urban areas, mainly affecting racial minorities. While warping makes political sense in the short term, it may lead to negative, long-term consequences, including constraints on groups' ability to build broad-based coalitions and reduced prospects for compromise. To demonstrate warping, Merry analyzes nearly 67,000 communications by 15 national gun policy groups between 2000 and 2017 collected from blogs, emails, Facebook posts, and press releases. This book is the first to systematically assess the role of race in gun policy groups' framing and offers the most comprehensive examination to date of interest groups' framing of this issue.

Contents:

Distortion in the Gun Policy Debate

Framing in Gun Policy

Interest Groups in Gun Policy

Narrative Strategies

Victims

Perpetrators

Settings

Policy and Political Implications

Beyond Gun Policy: Practical and Theoretical Implications.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-206)

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

9780472126248

0472126245

OCLC:

1107991397