Major
Political Science
Anticipated Graduation Year
2026
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
Polls show that men are less likely to support gun restrictions than women, but do voter preferences translate into elite behavior? To answer this question, we use a novel dataset of hand-coded state firearm legislation across six politically diverse states (California, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Texas) to construct an 11-year panel dataset. Our results demonstrate that descriptively, women generally cosponsor more restrictive and fewer permissive gun policy bills than men, even after accounting for partisanship. Using multiple staggered difference-in-differences specifications, we find women are no more likely than men to advance restrictive gun bills, yet they do cosponsor fewer efforts to expand gun rights (permissive bills). Our findings imply that electing more women may not substantially increase efforts to tighten gun laws but could curb gun rights expansion, showcasing how gender may shape legislation through agenda restraint rather than by promoting active policymaking.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Dr. Patrick Cunha Silva; Dr. G. Augustin Markarian
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Do Women Legislators Legislate Differently Than Men on Gun-related Policy? A Suggestive Yes
Polls show that men are less likely to support gun restrictions than women, but do voter preferences translate into elite behavior? To answer this question, we use a novel dataset of hand-coded state firearm legislation across six politically diverse states (California, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Texas) to construct an 11-year panel dataset. Our results demonstrate that descriptively, women generally cosponsor more restrictive and fewer permissive gun policy bills than men, even after accounting for partisanship. Using multiple staggered difference-in-differences specifications, we find women are no more likely than men to advance restrictive gun bills, yet they do cosponsor fewer efforts to expand gun rights (permissive bills). Our findings imply that electing more women may not substantially increase efforts to tighten gun laws but could curb gun rights expansion, showcasing how gender may shape legislation through agenda restraint rather than by promoting active policymaking.