Researchers studied the full two-year term of the 117th Congress and looked at posts on X between January 2021 and January 2023. They matched many posts to mass shooting incidents in that period.
The main finding was that Democrats were far more likely to post about guns after mass shootings, and their posting rose within about two days. Republicans did not show the same immediate response. The study also found that posts grew when shootings caused more deaths and when incidents happened in a legislator's home state.
Difficult words
- researcher — People who study a topic and collect dataResearchers
- match — To connect two things that belong togethermatched
- incident — An event or happening, often a problemincidents
- legislator — A person elected to make or change lawslegislator's
- immediate — Happening right away, without delay
- rise — To increase or become higher in amountrose
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Discussion questions
- Do you think a legislator should post quickly after a nearby shooting? Why or why not?
- How might the number of deaths change a lawmaker's social media posts?
- Have you seen posts about shootings on social media? What did they say?
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