Angels versus Devils: The Portrayal of Characters in the Gun Policy Debate

This research examines the role of the devil shift and angel shift in interest group rhetoric using the case of gun policy. The Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) suggests that the devil shift—whereby political actors characterize their opponents as more malicious and powerful than they actually are—is common in intractable policy debates. Through an analysis of e‐mails and press releases by two gun control organizations and two gun rights organizations, I examine how groups portray themselves and their opponents. I identify two dimensions relevant to these portrayals: (1) whether a character in a policy narrative is portrayed as good or evil, and (2) whether a character is portrayed as strong or weak. The findings indicate that while the devil shift is present, the angel shift—that is, the glorification of one's own coalition—is more common in gun policy groups' communications. Two alternative characterizations, which I call the angel in distress and the devil diminished, are also present. The use of these character portrayals varies significantly across political coalitions and as a function of communication purposes. The results suggest a need to reconceptualize character portrayals to better understand how they operate as narrative strategies in the NPF. 摘要 本研究以枪支政策为例分析了在利益集团的修辞中魔鬼转变和天使转变所扮演的角色。叙述政策框架提出, 魔鬼转变, 即政治行为者将他们的对手描绘得比真实的他们更恶意且有权力, 在棘手政策的辩论中非常普遍。通过分析两个枪支管控组织和两个枪支权利组织的邮件和出版物, 我研究了利益集团如何描述自己和对手。我识别了有关这些描述的两个方面：(1)一段政策叙述中的对象被描述为善的还是恶的, 以及 (2)一个对象被描述为强的还是弱的。这些发现指出, 在不同枪支政策集团的交流中, 尽管魔鬼转变确实存在, 天使转变, 即将自己所在的联盟神圣化, 更为普遍。另外还存在两个特点, 我管它们叫危难中的天使和弱化的恶魔。这些描述的特点随着政治联盟和交流目的的变化而显著不同。这些结果表明, 我们需要重新对角色的描写概念化, 以更好地理解它们在叙述政策框架中是如何成为叙述策略的。