On Guns, Public Opinion and Public Policy Often Diverge

Polls show that public support for tighter guns laws is rising.
Alone, that doesn’t mean Congress is going to expand gun control anytime soon.

Public opinion and public policy on guns have seemed to be at odds for decades. Measures like universal background checks often attract the support of more than 90 percent of the American public, but overwhelming support has not translated into overwhelming victories for gun control measures when they’ve been put to public votes.

And in general, Republicans, many in safe rural districts or states, are relatively insulated from national political opinion on gun control, and on other issues that tend to break along urban-rural lines. CONT.

Nate Cohn & Margot Sanger-Katz, New York Times

Recent polls: Guns