Last week, Sen. Chris Murphy made a small splash by filibustering on the Senate floor until, he said, Republicans agreed to allow a vote on a modest gun control measure. When the nation has debates like this, commentators often focus either on what was meant by the Second Amendment, or on who supports and who opposes such regulations, examining public opinion divisions along partisan, geographical, or other lines.
My research has identified a different factor, however, that affects public opinion about gun control, and it plays a bigger role than observers often appreciate. That factor is race. CONT.
Alexandra Filindra (U. of Illinois at Chicago), The Monkey Cage