Gallup: Americans Support President Obama’s Gun Reform Proposals

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM



IGOR BOBIC 5:17 PM EST, WEDNESDAY JANUARY 23, 2013

Given a choice to vote "for" or "against" nine of President Obama's key proposals to reform the nation's gun laws, Americans support all of them, a new Gallup poll released Wednesday found.

Notably, Americans back criminal background checks for gun sales 91% to 8%, more mental health programs 82% to 15%, reinstating a federal assault weapons ban 60% to 35% and limiting the sale of high-capacity magazines to 10 rounds per clip 54% to 43%, the poll finds.

The poll was conducted Jan. 19-20 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

"The question does not tell respondents that all nine proposals come from Obama's recently released plan to reduce gun violence; however, the wordings used to describe them intentionally follow the White House's "Now Is the Time" plan descriptions," Gallup says.

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Read more: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/gallup-americans-support-president-obamas-gun-reform-proposals

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Link to Gallup Poll:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/160085/americans-back-obama-proposals-address-gun-violence.aspx

[onehandle]

1. Gun Rightists Continue Their March To Irrelevance. nt

[samsingh]

2. 91 to 8 is very diffinitive

[iandhr]

3. I am surprised by one thing in the poll

The assault weapons bans polls higher then then the proposal to limit the size of magazines.

I would have guessed the opposite.

[baldguy]

4. Suck it, gun worshipers.

[hack89]

7. That poll is meaningless to Congress - especially to Senate Democrats

they only care about votes - which means their constituents are the only voices they will listen to.

There are at least 10 Dems in the Senate up for election in 2014 from conservative, pro-gun states. Some minor stuff will be passed but nothing controversial like an AWB.

[baldguy]

8. Gun worshipers are on the wrong side of public opinion

And the wrong side of history, and the wrong side of morality and - if they don't regain their sanity & change their ways - they will also be the wrong side of the law as well.

[hack89]

9. Keep believing that if you wish - there was more support for gun control in 1994

and look how that worked out.

Notice that it is the same old faces talking gun control in congress? Nothing has changed that much.

[baldguy]

10. If you haven't noticed, the tide has turned.

It happened when gun worshipers came out in support of massacring children.

[hack89]

11. I would hold off on the happy dance until you have actual results.

How do you explain this?

Washington (CNN) -- Unlike most issues these days that divide along party lines, the immediate fate of President Obama's new gun proposals will depend not as much on Republicans as his fellow Democrats in the Senate.

Senate Democratic leadership sources tell CNN that passing any new legislation will be extremely difficult because more than a dozen vulnerable Democrats from conservative states will probably resist much of what the president is pushing.

These Democratic sources say the most likely legislation to pass will be strengthening background checks, since it is the least overt form of gun control and it also appeals to gun rights advocates' emphasis on keeping guns away from people with mental health and criminal problems.

Democratic leadership sources say they intend to spend next week -- the first week the Senate is in session -- canvassing red-state Democrats to see what, if anything, is doable. Democratic senators who advocate various gun control measures will be lobbying their colleagues as well.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/16/politics/senate-democrats-gun-legislation/index.html

I question your grasp on American political and social reality. It is a lot more complex then a single Gallup poll.

Your post is typical gun control hyperbole. Having different solutions then you is not coming "out in support of massacring children." I support the President's EOs plus universal background checks and a limit on magazine size. Does that make me a gun worshiper?

[primavera]

12. Naturally - it's always easier to do nothing than to do something

Voters rarely mobilize against an elected official for doing nothing; it's the moment government does its job and seeks to remedy a problem that minority groups threatened by change band together to vocally protest. It took an awful lot of dead African Americans hanging from trees before our government finally stepped up to the plate and did anything. But, happily, we eventually did do something, because we couldn't stand to live in a society that committed such atrocities against its fellow citizens. One Gallup poll is, to be sure, not the end of the debate. But it reflects the growing awareness on the part of the vast majority that 30,000 bullet-riddled American corpses every year are not the characteristic of a civilized nation.

[hack89]

13. There is plenty that can and should be done

just pointing that some of the more extreme anti-gun positions heard here have no actual chance of passing.

As for those 30,000 deaths, since the majority of them are suicides, I would suspect that the true growing awareness is how important healthcare really is to society - that there is a real price for the lack of mental health coverage. Many here see it as a black and white "guns are evil" issue - I am certain that most Americans are capable of more complex and nuanced reasoning. Gun control certainly plays a role but there are other just as important solutions too.

[primavera]

14. Mental health is certainly a part of the problem

As is economic inequality, political disenfranchisement, and a host of other issues. But ready access to weaponry of massive destructive potential is also part of the problem. A child who wants to beat up his sister needs to be taught to not want to beat up his sister. In the meantime, however, only an idiot gives him hand grenades to play with. You speak, as do all gun advocates, of "extreme anti-gun positions," choosing to blame anything and everything rather than guns. Yet the proposals on the table are ones which address the very problems you reference: mandating improved access to mental health care, authorizing research into the causes of gun violence, and developing information sharing protocols to facilitate more effective background checks in order to keep guns out of the hands of persons predisposed to violence. Nonetheless, these proposals are being received by the gun community as "extreme anti-gun positions," the first step in a Stalinist conspiracy to enslave the nation, an urgent call to form citizen armies to resist government tyranny. And we are to understand that it is the administration that is "extreme"?

[hack89]

15. I support those proposals you discuss

I support all the President's EOS. I support universal background checks and magazine size limits.

What I consider "extreme anti-gun positions" are those advocating gun bans and confiscation. Or prohibitively high taxes. Or national gun registration.

There is a wide stretch of common ground in the middle where a lot of good can be done. But the vitriol coming from both fringes does nothing to help solve actual problems. Comments like "Fuck gun owners", "NRA talking points", "gun nuts" "delicate flowers" are commonly thrown out when there is not 100% agreement from gun owners. Don't you agree that such rhetoric is counterproductive? Or are you so confident of your position that you don't see the need to enlist the help of gun owners?

[primavera]

16. That's great

Unfortunately, your views don't seem to be well-represented in the public sphere. All one ever hears from entities like the NRA, professing to represent the voice go America's gun enthusiast community, is that no form of gun control is acceptable. Can we discuss improving background checks? No, that's a totalitarian conspiracy. Fine, can we discuss limiting magazine capacities? No, that's a totalitarian conspiracy. Okay, how about safety devices, such as trigger locks and gun safes? No, that's a totalitarian conspiracy. I see, moving on, can we at least discuss creating educational requirements to train gun owners in basic gun safety? No, that's a totalitarian conspiracy. Right, then, perhaps we could discuss gun show sales of guns that circumvent background checks? No, that's a totalitarian conspiracy. Yes, well, why am I not surprised by that response? As far as I can see, the only "gun control" that the gun community deems acceptable is making guns ever more dangerous and ever more widely available with ever fewer restrictions. I have yet to hear so much as one, single, solitary proposal offered by the NRA on how we might make guns safer or keep them out of the hands of persons unable to own and use them responsibly. Instead, we should station military-trained troops at schools to protect our children. We should equip teachers with guns and body armor so that they can protect our children. These are the only "solutions" I hear coming from the gun community's public voice. Of course, I would love to move forward on this complex and challenging problem with the active aid and participation of gun owners; indeed, their informed input is invaluable to any legislation that hopes to be effective. But if gun owners adamantly refuse to take part in any meaningful discussion on the topic, then what choice does the rest of the country have but to move forward without them?

[hack89]

17. There is a reason only a tiny minority of gun owners are NRA members.

The NRA is not my responsibility - I don't have to defend them.

If you want to pass meaningful gun control legislation you will have to marginalize the NRA. Which means making common cause with gun owners. Which means listening and respecting our opinions. You can't have it both ways. If the NRA is the problem then stop associating every gun owner with the NRA and the RW every chance you have.

Your obstacle is not the active opposition of gun owners. It is rather their indifference when they decide the vitriol and personal abuse is not worth the effort and they wash their hands of the entire issue.

You cannot move forward without us. To think that is to deny social and political reality. You need our support. So start acting like you actually want cooperation instead of capitulation.

[primavera]

18. The NRA IS your responsibility

They are inundating the national and international print, radio, and television media; they are testifying before Congress; and they are hiring lobbyists by the truckload. They dominate the public debate on gun issues and they are telling the world that they are speaking with your voice. If they are not, in fact, representing your views, why aren't you doing anything about it? Write a letter to the editor protesting that Wayne LaPierre does not speak for you, that you oppose measures a, b, and c, but you support alternative measures x, y, and z. If what you say is true and most gun owners are not as radical as the NRA, then there must surely be some nonprofit advocacy group out there that advances sensible gun control measures that do enjoy support from the gun community. So cancel your memberships to the NRA and support those groups instead. But that's not what the public sees. What the public sees is a quarter of a million gun owners joining the NRA within hours of the administration's proposals for improved gun control. What we see is gun enthusiasts cleaning out the shelves at gun and sporting goods stores, stockpiling guns and ammo. What we see are people like Ted Nugent and Alex Jones calling for civil war and claiming the support of vast armies of gun owners. Face it, the public image of the gun community sucks. If it's not representative, you should fix that, because it is you and your interests that these guys are claiming to represent.

The rest of the country can move forward without you. It will be a whole lot harder, take a lot more time and money, and will involve more stumbles and bad bits of legislation along the way. But slave owners never did come around to supporting emancipation and yet we still managed to abolish slavery despite their opposition.

[hack89]

19. So gun owners = slave owners.

thinking like that is why you will fail.

[primavera]

20. That's what slave owners said, too

[hack89]

21. Time will tell. nt

[CountAllVotes]

5. I am all for gun control

I've seen enough in my life:

4 murders
1 suicide
1 accident

*********

These could have been prevented if it weren't for guns too easy to get being close at hand.

Throw in the idea of an unaccounted for gun, a weapon that I personally had to deal with, a gun registered to WHO exactly? No one was certain so I took said gun to the Sheriff and had it destroyed/melted down. I heard more than one sigh of relief when I did that!

Idiots out there with guns and they don't even know WHO they are registered to? be damned.

I hope for stronger measures soon; the sooner the better IMO.

[raidert05]

6. What about...

Gun Laws Not Necessarily the Priority

Now that President Obama has outlined his plan for preventing gun violence, Congress must decide what to take up, and when. There is a good chance his proposals will be considered separately, rather than as a package, raising the question of what Americans would prioritize. All of this, it must be said, is colored by last month's horrific mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Certain types of gun control policies enjoy broad public support, but so do proposals aimed at treating youth with mental health problems before they can become a danger to society, and increasing school security measures. Gallup asked Americans in a separate question whether, in order to prevent future school shootings, the president and Congress should focus more on gun control or more on school security and mental health. Two-thirds choose the latter.

Preference for What Leaders Should Focus On to Prevent School Shootings, January 2013




same Poll:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/160085/americans-back-obama-proposals-address-gun-violence.aspx