Gleason, TimothyNoga-Styron, Krystal2020-09-242020-09-24https://hdl.handle.net/1794/25706This mixed-methods study focused on how individuals and the news media frame the subject of campus carry; it did so with a specific focus on determining whether campus carry is understood as being a free speech or a gun rights issue as defined by the First or Second Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. In an attempt to determine whether the news media set an agenda in the debate on campus carry, a cross-sectional survey (N = 517) of university students, faculty, and staff was administered. The goal of the survey was to collect empirical data to determine to what extent these individual’s demographics and perceptions predict their attitudes toward three dependent variables related to the possession of firearms on campus. The survey results indicated that, on average, the respondents (1) would not feel more secure on campus, (2) they would change their behavior in the classroom, and (3) they would refrain from engaging in controversial classroom discussions if individuals were legally allowed to carry firearms on campus. While level of support for the Second Amendment was predictive of these attitudes, level of support for the First Amendment was not. A descriptive content analysis of text extracted from 143 newspaper articles was also conducted and the results revealed that the media frame newspaper articles on the subject of campus carry by centering the issue on the right to bear arms, as endorsed by the Second Amendment, and by taking an anti-campus carry position in the debate. Both the survey and the content analysis indicated that there is a general sentiment against campus carry, and that campus carry is considered more of a Second Amendment issue, associated with the right to bear arms, than a First Amendment issue, associated with the freedom of speech. There was, therefore, some alignment between the survey data and the content analysis data indicating that news frames may have the potential to exert an influence on audience perceptions and attitudes toward the issue of campus carry.en-USAll Rights Reserved.Agenda SettingCampus CarryFirst AmendmentFramingGuns on campusSecond AmendmentElectronic Thesis or Dissertation