When the Smoke Clears: Focusing Events, Issue Definition, Strategic Framing, and the Politics of Gun Control
Objective This article explores the strategic nature of framing following a focusing event. We argue that focusing events serve as catalysts for bill introductions along three particular causal stories prevalent in gun control policy: restrictive, punitive, and lenient. Methods We employ a negative binomial regression model to investigate the effect firearm focusing events have on restrictive, lenient, and punitive bills introduced in both the House and the Senate. Results Focusing events lead to an increase in restrictive, punitive, and lenient bills introduced in the House. In the Senate, however, focusing events lead to an increase in the number of punitive and lenient bills, while having no significant impact on the number of restrictive bills. Conclusion This represents an increase in attention to gun control policy regardless of the causal story.