Good news, bad news from the pollsters at Gallup this week.
First, the good news. Support for stricter laws covering the sale of firearms has dropped from 67 percent to 60 percent according to poll results published Wednesday. The last time Gallup asked Americans their opinion on the question of tougher regulations on gun sales was in March, not long after the Parkland, Florida massacre.
The bad news? Well, 60 percent is still at the higher end of the historical spectrum, particularly when placed in the context of the last two decades when we’ve witnessed support on the same question plummet to as low as 43 percent in 2012.
(Photo: Gallup)
“Americans’ support for tougher gun legislation typically fluctuates, increasing in the wake of a mass shooting and dropping as memory of those horrific events fades,” stated Gallup.
“However, the broader recent trend has been an increase in support for tighter regulations,” it added.
The obvious problem with the poll is the nebulous nature of the question. What do stricter laws covering the sale of firearms actually mean? Criminalizing private transfers? Tougher laws prosecuting straw purchasers? Raising the purchase age for all firearms to 21? It’s not really clear. As such it’s hard to draw any specific conclusions about policy implications.
What is clear, however, is that overwhelmingly Americans oppose banning handguns. Moreover, that that has been the prevailing opinion of the public for the past decade.
“Fewer than three in 10 Americans, 28%, support a handgun ban, unchanged from last October. Americans’ support for a handgun ban has been below 30% since 2008,” noted Gallup.
“Even among the groups most supportive of a handgun ban, less than a majority say they favor it,” it continued. “Among Democrats, for example, 42% support such regulation, compared with 10% of Republicans.”
(Photo: Gallup)
It can be argued that the strong opposition to banning handguns reflects the nation’s reverence and respect for one’s constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms. Handguns, after all, are the preferred tool for self-defense outside the home.
“These poll results do not surprise me,” said Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and the founder of the Second Amendment Foundation in an email to GunsAmerica.
“In fact, they are good news for gun rights, The trend is in our direction and the fact that so few people support banning handguns is fantastic,” he added. “Generically people will say they are for more gun control until you ask specific questions with the explanation of what the current laws are. When you do that support for gun control takes a nose dive.”
While a majority of Americans may favor “stricter gun laws covering the sale of firearms,” whatever that may mean, they most certainly do not want Big Brother infringing on their fundamental right to own and carry handguns for personal protection.
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Thank goodness it is difficult to amend the Constitution. One of the ways they could repeal the Second Amendment would require the following:
1) House of Representatives and the Senate get a majority vote to repeal the Second Amendment.
2) After this the amendment is ratified by three-fourths (currently 38) of state legislatures or three-fourths of state ratifying conventions, it would then become part of the Constitution. Good luck doing this progressives.
We need to get New York, California, New Jersey, Maryland, Colorado and other tyrant state gun laws brought before the Supreme Court now so they can be repealed. We have a majority of the Supreme Court now that supports the Second Amendment.
Depends on the questions and how they are presented…
I think we need gun education in school…
need to teach personal responsibility for our actions as well…
harsher punishment for gun crimes…more prosecutions of gun crimes…
laws don’t prevent crimes…they only apply after the crime is done…in the penalty phase
Gun control is one of those issues that gets trendy after a major shooting. The media exploits a major shooting via over reporting and when they do report they dedicate a portion of it to how the event will effect the debate on guns. Polls on gun control fluctuate according to what people see i the news.
Polls are used to sway a mindless society to think a certain way. Then the pollsters present their findings as fact, that somehow the results reflect consensus of the nation.
Aren’t these the same morons that predicted Hillary winning? I don’t believe a word of it, do any of you know anyone that was ever asked their opinion? I thought not.
If society really wanted to change for the better, they’d stop focusing on inanimate objects and look at the people. Parents need to be held accountable for their kids attending school, and repeat offenders need to be removed permanently.