Open thread for night owls: Americans want stricter gun laws, but no 'assault rifle' or handgun ban

A new Gallup Poll shows 58 percent of Americans want stricter gun laws in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. That is way up from the 43 percent who felt the same way in 2011. But, it's still short of the 78 percent who said they wanted tougher laws in 1991. That was a period when murders related to the crack cocaine trade soared. In the city of Los Angeles, for instance, 1,092 murders were committed in 1992. In 2011, 293 were.
John Voorhees reports:

Still, the numbers suggest that any effort in Washington to pass new laws is likely to run into strong headwinds. When it comes to specific proposals to ban certain guns, those in favor of the status quo remain strong:

' 51 percent of respondents said they are against any law that would make it illegal to manufacture, sell or possess "semi-automatic guns known as assault rifles" compared to 44 percent who are for such a law. That's pretty much where things stood the last time Gallup asked the question toward the end of last year, when the split was 53-43 against. For comparison, prior to 2005 a majority of Americans said they were in favor of such a ban.

' 74 percent said they are against any law that would make it illegal to own a handgun (except by police and other authorized personel) compared to 24 percent in favor. That's the largest recorded gap since the polling outfit began asking the question back in 1959.
Instead, gun-control advocates and their allies in Congress appear more likely to find some measure of success by targeting lower-hanging fruit, like closing the so-called "gun show loophole" or banning high-capacity magazines.

An overwhelming percentage of Americans, 92 percent, support a mandatory background check for all buyers of firearms at gun shows. Currently, federally licensed firearms dealers must run background checks on buyers, but private sellers are exempt. Also, 62 percent would support a ban on magazines that hold more than 10 bullets; 35 percent oppose such a ban.A bare majority of those surveyed oppose a law that would ban the manufacture, sale or possession of semi-automatic firearms that are civilian versions of military assault rifles. Fifty-one percent of those polled oppose the ban while 44 percent support one.

Gallup also found that 74 percent of the public opposes a ban on handgun possession. That is a record high. The 24 percent in favor of a handgun ban is the lowest recorded since Gallup first asked the question in 1959.

High Impact Posts. Top Comments.