Every new year means adding thousands of new state laws to the books. This year’s wide range includes everything from tanning bed age limits (Illinois), to a new ban on selling shark fins (Delaware). While most new laws represent incremental change, sometimes state laws can also signal broader movement on […] Read more »
The Newtown massacre: A year on
… National opinion polls saying that most Americans want this or that to happen to gun laws are largely useless. Guns divide Americans deeply by region, locality and—to a striking and depressing degree—by race. Americans are divided in their opinions, because their incentives and experiences are very different. The Washington […] Read more »
Background check support strong, but lower, a year after Newtown
On the cusp of the anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., a CBS News poll reveals Americans overwhelmingly support a federal law requiring background checks on all potential gun buyers, a measure that has so far failed to be put into law. Eighty-five percent of […] Read more »
Support for strict gun control drops to pre-Newtown levels
Support for stricter gun-control measures has dropped to its lowest level since last year’s tragic shootings in Newtown, Conn., according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Fifty-two percent of Americans now say they want stricter laws covering the sale of firearms. By comparison, 38 percent think gun laws […] Read more »
A year after Newtown, little change in public opinion on guns
After the horrific shootings at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., a year ago claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults, there was a sense in the country – especially among gun-control supporters – that the tragedy would be different from similar ones in the past and push […] Read more »
The chances for gun control in the US are slim
It’s been 11 months since the tragic Newtown shootings. Many gun control advocates believed that the mass murdering of innocent children would spawn a new gun control effort in the United States. So far, it would seem that gun control activists have been by most measures unsuccessful. Why do I […] Read more »