Fear of Mass Shootings Divides Young Americans on Guns

More than six in ten young adults worry that mass shootings will touch their lives somehow. But when it comes to what should be done about it, the so-called “massacre generation” is anything but united.

A new study from the University of Colorado Boulder reveals a striking paradox: while 61% of 18- to 29-year-olds express concern about mass violence, their policy preferences split sharply along partisan and gender lines. Among young Republicans, conservatives, and men, greater fear of shootings actually correlates with stronger opposition to gun restrictions.

The findings challenge assumptions that this cohort, raised with lockdown drills and social media feeds full of tragedy, would naturally coalesce around stricter firearm laws as they gain political influence.

“This is a generation of people who live with significant fear and anxiety over mass violence. But we found that those shared fears do not unite them in attitudes on gun policy. In fact, they polarize them.”

That is according to Jillian Turanovic, associate professor of sociology at CU Boulder and senior author of the study published in Social Science Quarterly. She and colleagues surveyed nearly 1,700 young adults about their fears and firearm attitudes, uncovering divisions that defy simple generational narratives.

Growing Up With Lockdown Drills

Sociologists coined the term “massacre generation” in 2022 to describe young people who came of age after Columbine and 9/11, in an era when mass shootings dominate headlines and active shooter drills are routine. By 2032, Millennials and Gen Z will make up nearly half of American voters, making their views on guns a critical question for future policy.

Mass shootings account for only about 1% of annual gun deaths in the United States, yet they have shaped public discourse in outsized ways. After the 2018 Parkland shooting left 17 dead, student survivors launched March for Our Lives to push for gun control. In contrast, the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre that killed 20 children and six adults sparked the slogan “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” among gun rights advocates.

Previous national polls suggested young adults lean liberal and favor more restrictions. But Turanovic wanted to dig deeper, looking specifically at how fear itself influences gun attitudes across demographic groups.

The research team asked participants to rate their fear on three scenarios: that they or someone they love would be victims of a mass shooting, that such violence would occur at a public event or large gathering, or that it would happen at a mall, school, bar, or nightclub. Overall, 44% reported moderate fear and 17% reported high fear.

The Great Divide

When the researchers analyzed gun control sentiment, the picture grew complicated. While 58% said owning a gun does not make you safer, 42% disagreed. Nearly a third supported allowing guns on college campuses. The same proportion said permits should not be required to carry firearms in public. And 42% called gun control laws unconstitutional.

Among the full sample, higher fear correlated modestly with greater support for restrictions. But for young Republicans, conservatives, and men, the pattern reversed entirely. The more they feared mass shootings, the more they viewed expanded gun access as the answer.

“Emerging adults today are very divided in their gun control sentiment, and those divisions are most pronounced when fear of mass shootings runs high.”

Race, ethnicity, and education level did not significantly moderate the relationship between fear and gun attitudes. But geography mattered: young adults in the Northeast showed the same inverted pattern as conservatives and men, with greater fear predicting less support for gun control.

The findings suggest that shared experiences of growing up amid mass violence have not forged a unified political response. Instead, the same fears get filtered through different worldviews, producing opposite conclusions about safety and policy.

Turanovic hopes the data on fear levels alone will prompt policymakers to expand mental health resources for young adults living with chronic anxiety about violence. For those focused on gun policy debates, whether advocating for tighter or looser regulations, the message is clear: tomorrow’s voters are not a monolithic bloc.

Generational change, she notes, will not by itself resolve America’s gun policy debates. The massacre generation may share common fears, but they remain deeply divided on solutions.

Social Science Quarterly: 10.1111/ssqu.70087