Politicians know they incur a big political risk if they support gun-control legislation. Gun-control advocates have to demonstrate that there is also a political risk for politicians who do not support sensible gun legislation. The only way to do that is to defeat someone who voted against background checks. Their […] Read more »
Public Opinion and the Senate Votes on Gun Control
The Senate voted down new restrictions on gun ownership on Wednesday, drawing the ire of President Obama and a number of other politicians and pundits who, among other things, pointed to the Senate’s actions as contrary to public opinion on the issue. But to what extent did senators really vote […] Read more »
Why the Senate Vote May Signal 2016 Problems for the Gun Lobby
The outcome of Wednesday’s dramatic Senate vote on expanding background checks simultaneously demonstrated the difficult geography confronting gun control advocates in the Senate and the potentially daunting math facing gun rights proponents in the Electoral College. On the one hand, the defeat showed how difficult it is for gun control […] Read more »
Gun vote shows gulf between Washington, country
If there were ever a moment that symbolized the difference between the power of public opinion and the strength of a concerted minority, it came Wednesday when the Senate defeated a bipartisan measure to expand background checks on gun purchases. … “If you ever wanted a textbook example of intensity […] Read more »
Public opinion gets trumped in gun control defeat
Four months after the massacre at a Connecticut elementary school, the gun-control proposal with arguably the best chance of passing through Congress went down to defeat. And in this case, a powerful gun lobby, coupled with 2014 campaign politics, trumped public opinion. … The most recent surveys included a CNN/ORC […] Read more »
As Senate vote nears, background check bill in peril
A bipartisan effort to expand background checks is in deep trouble as the Senate approaches a long-awaited vote on the linchpin of the drive to curb gun violence. As the showdown draws near, an Associated Press-GfK poll shows ebbing public support for tightening gun control laws. [cont.] Alan Fram, AP […] Read more »