Gallup: Support for stricter gun laws drops
Less than half favor stricter gun laws.
Gallup’s latest gun rights-themed poll shows that by and large, Americans haven’t been swayed by high-profile shootings into ceding their Second Amendment rights.
In the wake of the 2012 shootings at Newtown, 58% of Americans polled said they favored stricter laws governing gun ownership; since then, however, that number has dropped to 47%.
Via Gallup:
The percentage favoring stricter gun sale laws in the two years since Newtown occurred has declined despite steady and tragic high-profile shootings in the U.S at schools, malls and businesses. This past week, shootings occurred at a Seattle-area school and of police officers in Sacramento and Placer County, California. Amidst events like these in 2014, and the resulting calls for stricter gun sale laws, the 47% who favor stricter laws is just above the historical low of 43% measured in 2011.
Ten years ago, three in five Americans (60%) said they favored stricter laws regulating the sale of firearms, but support fell to 44% in 2009 and remained at that level in polls conducted in the next two years. Days after the Newtown shooting, support for stricter gun sale laws swelled. Since 2012, however, Americans have retreated from those stronger attitudes about the need for more gun control, and the percentage of Americans who say the laws should be less strict — although still low — has edged up.
Numbers reflecting the percentage of Americans who favor a law banning the private ownership of handguns is also low, with only around 26% supporting a ban:
Across the board, support for stricter regulations has dropped in every demographic save Independents: support ticked up one percentage point between 2012 and 2014. Even Democrats, liberals, and moderates have slowly lost enthusiasm, their support dropping 8 percentage points across the board.
This is good news for right-leaning candidates and Second Amendment advocates, but the apparent lack of a correlation between mass shootings and support for stricter gun laws doesn’t necessarily mean that conservatives should back off on positive messaging about gun ownership and self-defense. Fear is a powerful motivator, and we shouldn’t have to rely on knee-jerk responses to build up a solid base of support for gun ownership.
Democrats refused to let the 2012 tragedy in Newtown go to waste; if we’re smart, we’ll apply the same logic to how we take advantage of the growing base of Americans who support a strong Second Amendment.
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Comments
If the number of people at the gun range (Article II, Lombard, IL) I go to every other Saturday to practice is any indication of support for gun ownership then, yes, people want their guns and want to use them safely and legally. Concealed Carry classes were being held by certified instructors this past Saturday.
BTW: About a quarter to a third of the range shooters are women learning to shoot.
And, I would definitely recommend Howard Leight R-01526 earmuffs, especially if the person in the next lane is firing an “AR pistol.”
(Andrew, you may want to advertise your book on their website or as you see fit.)
As with so much else, we need…
1. fewer laws
2. more uniform laws
3. laws that are enforced against CRIMINALS
4. and laws that impose very lightly…if at all…on the vast majority of us who abide by the law, and which respect the rights we all possess.
These trends reflected in the polls, and AT the polls, show an encouraging direction among the people.
I think Americans show some basic good sense: After a horrific incident, they were inclined to revisit the question of whether the gun laws we had were appropriate, especially in light of claims made by people who wanted to Do Something.
Upon further examination, we found that the laws were less of a problem than our lack of preparedness and failure to deal with mental health problems (very difficult).
It is bound to be a factor that the US Federal government deliberately allowed the illegal purchase and export of weapons to Mexico, where far more people were killed, and stands accused of doing so for the purpose of obtaining stricter gun laws.
So, support for changes to the gun laws has dropped, but not gone away, entirely.
American voters are reasonable people.
They have the right to cede their own gun rights, but they haven’t a right to cede anybody else’s. They can cede their own by simply refusing to exercise it.
Meanwhile, in an effort to get a grip on American obesity rates, and taking a tip from anti-gun efforts, Michelle Obama will propose the strict regulation of forks and spoons.
Blame the choice, not the instrument.
Story just mentioned by Rush….
“They have the right to cede their own gun rights, but they haven’t a right to cede anybody else’s. They can cede their own by simply refusing to exercise it.”
THIS!
Your disbelief that I should have or exercise my rights, is irrelevant. Notice that not ONE of the BoR’s provisions allows infringement upon the rights of others, nor does it obligate anyone to an action.
Plenty of those people shooting at the range will happily vote to ban evil black rifles and civilian carry.
I-594 has a good chance of being voted into law in WA after a massive propaganda blitz there. Pray for them.