New Poll Shows Majority of Americans Believe More Important to Reduce "Gun Violence" Than Protect Gun Rights

The Reload reported yesterday that a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released Wednesday found 60 percent of Americans now think controlling "gun violence" is more important, while just 38 percent say it is more important to protect our right to keep and bear arms:

The polarization of the issue was clear in the polling as well. Democrats were nine-to-one in favor of controlling gun violence versus protecting gun rights, while two out of three Republicans said the opposite. Independents were more closely divided but skewed against defending gun rights by a margin of 42 percent to 55 percent.

Lee Miringoff, Director of the Marist Institute, argued the results were evidence that “inaction by lawmakers in Washington on the issue of guns is clearly out of step with public opinion” in a release accompanying the poll.

Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, said he was disappointed that so many respondents were “willing to throw the Second Amendment under a bus to achieve some false sense of security.”

“The right to keep and bear arms is enshrined in our Bill of Rights and most state constitutions for a reason,” Gottlieb said in a press release. “If we don’t protect all of our rights vigorously, pretty soon we will end up with none of them.”

In addition to favoring curbing gun violence, just over 60 percent of respondents said their first reaction to news of a mass shooting is that “this country needs stricter gun laws.” That was roughly the same as when pollsters last asked the question in 2019.

At the same time, the poll found an increased appetite for gun carrying to combat mass shootings. More than one-third of respondents said their first reaction to mass shootings is that more people need to carry guns, up ten percentage points from 2019 when the question was last asked.

When it came to specific solutions to address violence involving firearms the poll found the respondents broadly divided on things like “assault weapon” bans, mental health screenings for all gun buyers, background checks at gun shows and private sales, red-flag laws, and allowing teachers to carry guns in classrooms.

Just over a quarter of adults, including 44 percent of Democrats, said a ban on semi-automatic weapons like the AK-47 or the AR-15 would have the most impact on reducing gun violence. Just 23 percent of Independents and 13 percent of Republicans agreed. Respondents aged 18-29 were the least likely to think a so-called assault weapon ban would help (15 percent), while the oldest respondents aged 60 and up were the most likely (37 percent).

While we tend to see support for gun control increase immediately after a school shooting, support tends to subside after the passage of time.  The findings in this poll is not good news for those of us who care about the Bill of Rights.  It shows that increasingly, there are more people that, to paraphrase Ben Franklin, "...who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety...".