Each year, lawmakers quietly tuck language into spending bills that restricts the ability of the federal government to regulate the firearms industry and combat gun crime. It’s the reason the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can’t research gun violence, the Federal Bureau of Investigation can’t use data to detect […] Read more »
Once Again, Polls Show Attitudes Toward Guns Returning To Pre-shooting Levels
The day after last December’s mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School we wrote that: “The tragedy in Newtown, Conn., will surely spur pollsters to ask Americans again about guns, gun ownership, gun laws and the Second Amendment. If recent experience is a good guide, public opinion may not shift […] Read more »
Why the bully pulpit is Obama’s only hope for gun control
President Obama tried to breathe new life into his stalled gun control agenda on Thursday, but will he have any impact? He may not have a choice: it looks like some kind of action on his part is the only hope for reform. Over the past few weeks, the percentage […] Read more »
The Real Reason Public Opinion Doesn’t Work
… “Public opinion” is barely real; most of the time, on most issues, change the wording of the question and you’ll get entirely different answers. At best, “public opinion” as such is passive. And in politics, passive doesn’t get results. Action works. [cont.] Jonathan Bernstein, A plain blog about politics Read more »
What the Public Really Thinks About Guns
For years the conventional wisdom has said that “gun control” is a deeply polarizing and divisive issue and that support for stronger gun laws has been declining. In the wake of the December shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, however, a wealth of new data challenges this […] Read more »
Polls suggest Congress might have waited too long on gun control
While support for many gun control policies remains high in the wake of the horrific shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, polls conducted over the past few weeks suggest that three-and-a-half months after the tragedy, public backing for major new gun laws overall appears to have dropped significantly. […] Read more »