With the carnage in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, N.Y., in May 2022, calls have begun again for Congress to enact gun control. Since the 2012 massacre of 20 children and four staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., legislation introduced in response to mass killings has consistently failed to pass the Senate. Political scientists Monika McDermott and David Jones address why further restrictions never pass, despite a majority of Americans supporting tighter gun control laws.
Monika L. McDermott and David R. Jones
Monika McDermott is Professor of Political Science at Fordham. She studies voting behavior, political psychology and public opinion. Prof. McDermott has published research on multiple topics within political behavior, including personalities in politics, voting cues, information shortcuts in elections, public opinion of Congress and vote choice in congressional elections. She is the author of two books, and her work has been published in some of the profession's top journals, including the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, and Public Opinion Quarterly.
David Jones is Professor of Political Science at Baruch College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York. His research on Congress, political parties, and elections has been published in several scholarly journals, including the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and Public Opinion Quarterly. He is also the author of Political Parties and Policy Gridlock in American Government (2001) and coauthor of Americans, Congress and Democratic Responsiveness: Public Evaluations of Congress and Electoral Consequences (2009). He has regularly served as an exit poll analyst for CBS News and the New York Times.