Percentage of Americans Wanting Looser Gun Laws Triples in 2014

National Journal ^ | January 30, 2014 | Dustin Volz

[neverdem]

Fifty-five percent of Americans reported in a new Gallup poll that they are dissatisfied overall with American gun laws and policies, an increase from 51 percent in 2013 and just 42 percent in 2012.

But the most dramatic rise in dissatisfaction comes from the contingency of Americans who feel gun laws are too strict, rather than from those who think they aren't strict enough. This percentage jumped to 16 percent this year, a rate that more than triples the 5 percent recorded by Gallup last year. Meanwhile, the percentage of Americans favoring stricter gun laws fell seven points in 2014, from 38 to 31 percent.

The enormous growth of the gun-freedom caucus could in part be attributable to heavy lobbying efforts last year by the National Rifle Association and others. Sensing a groundswell of support for firearm restrictions in the wake of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., gun-rights groups reported lobbying to the tune of $12.2 million in 2013, according to data compiled by the Sunlight Foundation.

Gun-control groups spent five times as much on federal lobbying in 2013 as they did the year before, but the NRA and others still outpaced them by more than 7-to-1.

 

Catherine Mortensen, a spokeswoman for the NRA, said the poll results were not surprising. She said the boost in those wanting lighter restrictions came even despite heavy investment from gun-control groups on advertising last year. In direct contrast to federal lobbying, control groups outspent the NRA and others by a 7-to-1 margin ($14.1 million to $1.9 million) on advertising in 2013, according to data collected by Kantar Media.

"Billionaire gun control zealots such as Michael Bloomberg outspent us exponentially last year," she said in a statement. "However, their efforts failed to resonate with a majority of Americans that gun control laws are necessary. In fact, as Gallup shows, it has been counterproductive."

President Obama again called for tighter gun restrictions in his State of the Union address earlier this week, echoing the emotional plea he made in his address to Congress a year earlier after the tragedy wrought in Newtown. Consistent with the overall theme of his speech, Obama suggested he intends to tighten gun laws even if Congress doesn't send any gun legislation to his desk.

"Citizenship means standing up for the lives that gun violence steals from us each day," the president said Tuesday. "I have seen the courage of parents, students, pastors, and police officers all over this country who say, 'We are not afraid,' and I intend to keep trying, with or without Congress, to help stop more tragedies from visiting innocent Americans in our movie theaters, shopping malls, or schools like Sandy Hook."

The Senate failed last spring to pass legislation that would have expanded background checks, and the issue is widely viewed as a political nonstarter once again in Congress. Gun-control advocates did see some success last year in a few state houses, particularly in Colorado and Connecticut, but lawmakers choosing to support such legislation frequently face politically fatal backlash from the gun lobby.

Gallup's telephone interviews were conducted from Jan. 5-8 among a random sample of 1,018 adults. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

[Amendment10]

Thank you for referencing that Gallup poll neverdem.

If you've ever seen Mark Dice's video where he's spoofing a petition to repeal the 2nd Amendment, you might question, iike I do, the significance of any gun control poll.

People Petition to Confiscate Guns From Tea Party Supporters and Repeal the Second Amendment

[Amendment10]

Here's a better link than previous post.

People Petition to Confiscate Guns From Tea Party Supporters and Repeal the Second Amendment

[Candor7]

President Obama again called for tighter gun restrictions in his State of the Union address earlier this week, echoing the emotional plea he made in his address to Congress a year earlier after the tragedy wrought in Newtown.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Lets rephrase that:

A nut job slaughtered Connecticut school children with his Mother’s unsecured firearms,and that means that 160 million U.S.gun owners have to resign their 2nd amendment rights. Yep! Makes complete hope and change sense.

Obama can go and eff himself.

[Jack Hammer]

The nasty little truth that no one’s dicussing is that this whole thing is a response to the rise in Back-on-White crime and the predatory attitude of Blacks, especially young Blacks, even in suburbia and the countryside.

[neverdem]

Impy, I get a kick out of reading the whiners.

Zeestephen, if you think Texas and Georgia will lose House members from the GOP, I think they have a very good chance there will be pickups in CT, CA and upstate NY. Rats have resumed gun grabbing. Rat House members will pay too, IMHO.

Senate race poll numbers look good for Republicans (Michael Barone)

Obama's Job Approval Points to 2014 Trouble for Democrats

The Numbers That Scare Senate Democrats

NRA Plans Tough Campaign to Win a Pro-Gun Senate

NEGROES AND THE GUN: A G&P CONVERSATION WITH THE AUTHOR

Some noteworthy articles about politics, foreign or military affairs, IMHO, FReepmail me if you want on or off my list. I have hae been sick. That's why I haven't been linking my threads lately.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Basically Democrats favor gun control - and, basically, the ones who abuse weapons are Democrats.

So your observations would make perfect sense, if they don’t have Democrats in Switzerland.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

This should be used to crush gun grabbing dems in the midterms!

I wouldn’t get quite that enthusiastic until I read the fine print:

This percentage jumped to 16 percent this year, a rate that more than triples the 5 percent recorded by Gallup last year. Meanwhile, the percentage of Americans favoring stricter gun laws fell seven points in 2014, from 38 to 31 percent.

So this article, positive as it is, says that in its poll the issue still breaks the wrong way by a 31% to 16%, or two to one, ratio. Puts you in much better position to defend, but it doesn’t sound like a strength ratio which would put you in position to easily win with a frontal assault.

[Kickass Conservative]

>”6 against 1
just to make it fair”<

I guess that means NY Governor Cuomo will change his 7 Round Magazine restriction to 5.

Gotta make the playing field favor the Tyrants after all.

[zeestephen]

RE: “Georgia-Texas Call”

Apparently I've been looking at bad 2012 data from NBCNews.com on Texas and Georgia.

All their state exit polls show Black and Hispanic turn out at the national level - 13% and 10% - not at the specific state level.

I don't know how I missed that since the column doesn't add up to 100%.

However, I think I will still stick to my one seat Georgia loss and two seat Texas loss.

I can't believe the Democrats would start working on voter turn out in those two states TWO YEARS before the 2014 election unless they had a realistic expectation of picking up some seats.

And, nationally, I think the demographic trends and voting trends of the last 20 years continue.

Mathematical Fact - when Blacks, Hispanics, and poor white women turn out at the same rate white Conservatives turn out, the Democrats will take permanent control of the White House, the Senate, and the House.

[wita]

With ample evidence in support, it appears the last thing any government within the borders of the fifty seven states cares about, would be the will of the American people.

[imardmd1]

"I have never met a violent gun before. I have seen plenty of violent people however. I think people are figuring that out."

True, to a degree, but only in that education about gun possession and use has been taken up in the electronic media. There ought to be a reintroduction of gunmanship as a part of citizenship in the syllabus of required topics.

I learned to shoot in early high school interschool rifle competition that led me to expert marksmanship rating in M1 Rifle and M1 Carbine, as well as Master Gunner in the 81mm mortar. That early enjoyment in gunmanship is alsothe foundation in my concern for the importance of poficiency at the age of 77. We need to require early familiarity with guns regarding the construction, purpose, use, and importance of them in a free society.

[USCG SimTech]

Every citizen is a member of the militia and should be REQUIRED to carry at all times when not inside your own house. Just as the 2nd amendment states, all it citizens are to be well regulated. This means annual or bi-annual training at the range provided by and paid for by the taxpayers, for every citizen. Look up the definition of the word “regulated” IAW how it was meant to be interpreted back in the 18th century.

[RC one]

I was reloading for .45 acp and 30/06 when I was like 14 or so. My father was, of course, ensuring that I didn't make any mistakes every step of the way. My fondest childhood memories involve sitting behind a high powered rifle and sending .308 cal sierra matchkings downrange.

I am presently fondling a front focal plane illuminated reticle Vortex Viper PST 6-24x50mm cradled in a set of Badger Ordnance matched steel rings and sitting on a badger ordnance 20 MOA canted picatinny rail. This will all go on a virgin Remington Sendero 300 winchester magnum and will be used to hit various targets at 1,000+ yards this summer.

All of this will be done using handloaded ammo that should be capable of shooting dime sized groups at 200 yards.

I bought that rifle back in 1998 while stationed in Texas where I was a, what else, rifleman for 8 years.

I'm having a laser cut my corneas this week because I think it will improve my long range marksmanship capabilities btw

and my right shoulder will probably need replaced eventually from all the abuse it has taken behind various high powered rifles.

You could say that I am and have always been quite interested in gunmanship.

I also think that need to instill in our youth an appreciation of rifle marksmanship and responsible firearm ownership and general use. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on the government to mandate that though. I think groups like the NRA are our best hope to ensuring that these skills are not lost to future generations who have been indoctrinated by their leftist teachers and political representatives to believe that firearms are evil. I have personally observed this indoctrination at work in my own family and I find it disturbing to say the least.

[RC one]

This means annual or bi-annual training at the range provided by and paid for by the taxpayers, for every citizen.

as a sportsman, I am used to having my sporting purchases taxed and having a portion of those taxes being directed to sporting purposes. I am not normally a protax kind of guy but in this case, I would actually support additional ammunition taxes so long as the extra taxes were used to build and maintain long distance rifle ranges in every county of every state and which were open to the public 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Every kid should have available to him a convenient place to go safely learn and practice rifle marksmanship as should every citizen of every state for that matter. Liberals would, of course, disagree and they are actively working to reduce interest in rifle marksmanship by preventing the practice wherever possible.

[RandallFlagg]

Bookmarking

[Hardastarboard]

control groups outspent the NRA and others by a 7-to-1 margin ($14.1 million to $1.9 million) on advertising in 2013, according to data collected by Kantar Media.

And that's not counting for all of the anti-gun publicity that the media gives them by using images of handguns when reporting a stabbing and so forth.

I wanted to reach through the screen last night and slap Brian Williams in the mouth. He was reporting on "Another controversial 'Stand Your Ground' case in Florida" in which a middle aged white guy shot some minority youths in a car supposedly because they were playing their music too loud. They showed a picture of George Zimmerman, their favorite whipping boy, mentioned Stand Your Ground again, and painted the shooter in the usual way they do (use your imagination - it isn't hard).

The thing is Williams, you BONE HEAD, it has been DOCUMENTED repeatedly that Zimmerman's defense DID NOT use 'Stand Your Ground' as a defense.

I hate the MSM. Hate them, hate them, hate them.

I would also point out that I listened carefully, and never did hear anyone mention that the shooter's defense would be based on SYG, nor did he ever mention in any of the footage of him, using SYG as the basis for what he did.

The MSM is just evil.

[Atlas Sneezed]

So this article, positive as it is, says that in its poll the issue still breaks the wrong way by a 31% to 16%, or two to one, ratio. Puts you in much better position to defend, but it doesn’t sound like a strength ratio which would put you in position to easily win with a frontal assault.

---

Just take it to mean that a slanted leftist push poll finds the trend toward pro-gun.

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the ping...

[Cheerio]

“Democratic” Party

There is NOTHING DemocratIC about the RAT party. Can you say CARD CHECK?

[cloudmountain]

Switzerland has a very low crime rate because they don’t allow a lot of foreigners to immigrate. IIRC, a very large portion of the murders are committed by foreigners, too.

Switzerland allows immigration, but no Swiss citizenship.
They allow the dishwashers to immigrate, naturally, but those same immigrants don't deserve the honor of being a Swiss citizen.
CHEESY attitude, innit? :o)
Pun intended.