Document Type
Article
Abstract
Constitutional carry (CC) laws, now enacted in 29 states, allow individuals to carry firearms openly without permits, yet little is known about public perceptions of these laws. This study employs a pre-registered survey experimental design to investigate whether varying support for CC laws by police leaders and politicians influences attitudes toward the laws and their perceived consequences. One-third of respondents supported CC laws, with most disagreeing that they will make communities safer. The majority of the sample felt these laws would increase personal liberty but also felt these laws would increase police danger. Oppositional messaging increased agreement that the laws would increase police danger, and supportive messaging increased the public’s agreement that these laws would increase liberties. Since most Americans oppose CC laws, yet many would be more likely to carry under them, policymakers should carefully balance the tradeoffs of police safety and liberty.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Publication Info
Published in American Journal of Criminal Justice, 2026.
Rights
© The Author(s) 2026 This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
APA Citation
Boehme, H. M., & Vaughn, P. E. (2026). More Rights, More Danger for Police: An Experimental Look at How Messaging Shapes Public Views about Constitutional Carry. American Journal of Criminal Justice. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-026-09901-7