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Posted on 01/14/2013 4:15:37 PM PST by Red Steel
Americans support a wide range of new measures to combat gun violence, including majority support for background checks, an assault weapons ban, and placing armed police in schools according to a pair of new polls released Monday.
The surveys, preformed by Pew Research and the Washington Post/ABC News, both find that Americans generally support a broad array of efforts in the aftermath of the Newtown, Conn. elementary school shooting that left 20 children and 6 school employees dead.
Among the most popular proposal in either survey was closing the so-called "gun show" loophole, which allows the private sale of guns without a background check. Some 88 percent of those in the WaPo/ABC survey and 85 percent of those in the Pew poll supported such a measure.
Establishing a central database to track gun purchases also earned broad support, with two-thirds of respondents in the Pew survey and 71 percent of the WaPo/ABC respondents supporting such a plan. And majorities of both the WaPo/ABC (65 percent) and Pew (54 percent) surveys said they support eliminating the sale of high capacity magazines for semi-automatic weapons.
On Monday, President Obama said each of those measures were likely to find their way into a legislative package he will detail later in the week.
"The things that I’ve said in the past -- the belief that we have to have stronger background checks, that we can do a much better job in terms of keeping these magazine clips with high capacity out of the hands of folks who shouldn’t have them, an assault weapons ban that is meaningful -- that those are things I continue to believe make sense," Obama said at a White House press conference.
The assault weapons ban is likely to be a stumbling block in Congress, where Republicans have signaled likely opposition — and even Democrats have cautioned the president. During a weekend appearance on a Nevada PBS affiliate, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (R-Nev.) said such legislation was unlikely to pass Congress.
“Let’s be realistic. In the Senate, we’re going to do what we think can get through the House. And I’m not going to be going through a bunch of these gyrations just to say we’ve done something because if we’re really legislators, the purpose of it is to pass legislation,” Reid said.
But that too garners majority support among those surveyed, with 55 percent of Pew respondents and 58 percent of WaPo/ABC respondents saying they support such a ban.
Voters are also broadly supportive of a plan floated by the National Rifle Association to increase the number of armed security guards or police officers in school buildings. Nearly two-thirds of Pew respondents and 55 percent of those surveyed in the WaPo/ABC poll said they supported such a measure, which President Obama told NBC News he was "skeptical" about
That's despite generally unfavorable views of the NRA itself. In the Washington Post poll, only 36 percent of those surveyed said they had a favorable opinion of the group, while a plurality — 38 percent — said the NRA had too much influence over the gun debate. Three in 10 said the group had the "right amount" of influence, while just under a quarter said the NRA had too little influence.
Democrats are far more likely to support new restrictions on guns and ammunition, with no proposal other than closing the gun show loophole and restricting sales to the mentally ill garnering more than half of Republicans, according to the Pew Poll. Republicans are, however, more supportive of putting armed security guards in school, by a 73-62 percent margin.
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Gallup, a far more reputable organization, did a poll recently that found 51% of Americans oppose a new "assault weapons ban".
http://www.gallup.com/poll/159569/americans-stricter-gun-laws-oppose-bans.aspx
Money quote:
"Americans' views on the sale of assault rifles are unchanged. The slight majority, 51%, remain opposed to making it illegal to manufacture, sell, or possess semi-automatic guns known as assault rifles." BTW, those in favor of a ban number 44%, so the margin isn't so "slight" really.
“I realize nobody actually bothered to read far enough to learn this, but if it is a rigged, propaganda poll, why do most of the respondents support the NRA armed guards in school plan?”
It’s a red herring for ersatz credibility.
What truly matters is how the question was phrased:
“Sir, if you were at a public school and it was under attack by mobs of zombies would you be for or against having armed guards at the school?”
If the DUmb Dems are sooooo sure that this poll is soooo accurate, then they should be able to get a plethora of Brady Bum bills to fly through Congress?
Did the idiots New York pollsters define ‘Assault Weapons’ to the low information voter? You can bet the low info person who was polled conjured up everything from bazookas to grenade launchers.
wanna bet?
Hitler and Obama both share the same vision..to control a nation one must disarm it’s citizens
All you have to do is look at who paid for this poll and who were the pollsters to figure out that it was highly skewed to the liberal viewpoint.
Are we really going to claim the polls are wrong after this past election?
These were two polls actually (ABC/Wapo and Pew), and they both generally showed the same results.
America’s demographics are changing rapidly and the movement politically is to the left. Virtually all these new Hispanics are liberal voters and have no knowledge of why the 2nd Amendment is so important. We still lose sizable numbers of white people as the country becomes more urban and less rural. The younger generations seem wedded to government and don’t mind growing it to the moon. Heck we even lose Asians (a demographic we used to win not long ago) worse than we do even Hispanics. The country is moving in the wrong direction and that is reflected in public opinion. So why should we not believe these polls again?
This country really is in serious trouble. The right needs to unify pretty quick and find a way to stay on message and go on the offensive. As is we are just getting pummeled right now. I think another good place to start is for the producers that understand what is going on to start buying up as much media as possible. Wasting money on Karl Rove’s super PAC got us nowhere in 2012. This nation is on a downward spiral and I don’t know how much time we have left before it’s simply too late.
What I can’t figure out is why the big push on gun control when you’re chances of being killed by a random gunman are about the same as being struck by lightning. BUT your chances of being killed by a drunk driver are much, much higher. One person is killed every half hour due to drunk driving. Each year approximately 16,000 are killed in alcohol related crashes. Why not push towards controlling the bigger problem that is killing many, many more people? I don’t get it.
The Leftwing faction in media is the Country’s greatest threat.
A poll doesn’t trump our rights.
I’ll make a prediction. Feinstein is not going to get squat through Congress. This poll here doesn’t reflect reality.
However, Gallup’s poll is likely much more reflective which was posted above:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/2978129/posts?page=22#22
How many would support a ban on “assault judges” (i.e., ‘Rose Bird type’ judges who are soft on violent criminals)?
Well the Dems are PERFECTLY FREE to follow this poll.
Us Conservatives would JUST LOVE to see them ELIMINATED as a legitimate political party - so all I can say to them is: HAVE AT IT!!!
Let’s see some REAL GUN CONTROL, just so we can throw you out with the garbage next week.
(but the Dems know all this...their REAL TARGET are weak-knee’d Republicans that aren’t able to understand it)
It’s a liberal wet dream. It’s not what guns can do to stop their wildest agendas but guns also represents what they despise.
Bonehead must go!
I would have been more impressed by this WAPO/abc “poll” if 50% of the bonehead respondents could have given them the name of the murderer at the school. I doubt more than 5% could have answered that question.
You're right, nothing is likely to pass Congress. Feinstein's bill won't even get out of the Senate.
My point was only that it is unwise to assume polling we don't like isn't accurate. Most of what passes for the American public are now getting their queues from an increasingly leftist education, media and entertainment establishment that are entirely shot through with leftism. On top of that the demographic changes do not bode well based on current voting patterns. We are likely to be shocked at the kind of stuff the new American public will support. A majority of them have no regard whatsoever for the Constitution, they are more likely to know what the Kardashians are doing than what the 2nd amendment says.
Both polls were probably taken within the NYC limits. :)
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