Post-Sandy Hook polling shows strong support for new control measures

Traffic moves past a memorial of 27 small U.S. flags, for victims of a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, along Interstate 84 in Newtown, Connecticut. First up, a Huffington Post poll by YouGov:

The new HuffPost/YouGov survey found that 50 percent of Americans say gun laws should be made more strict than they are now, compared to 43 percent who said that they should remain the same (29 percent) or be made less strict (14 percent). The poll also found support for banning semi-automatic weapons (51 percent to 33 percent) as well as magazine clips holding more than 10 rounds (54 percent to 32 percent).

Then there's an ABC Poll:

More than half of Americans say the school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, reflect broader problems in society rather than an isolated act of a troubled person ' more than after other recent shooting incidents, suggesting the possibility of a new national dialogue on violent crime.

This ABC News/Washington Post poll also finds that 54 percent of Americans favor stricter gun control laws in general, numerically a five-year high, albeit not significantly different than in recent years. Fifty-nine percent support a ban specifically on high-capacity ammunition clips, a step on which partisan and ideological gaps narrow substantially and 'strong' support peaks.

There's no valid reason for high-capacity magazines. You certainly don't need them for hunting if you learn how to fucking aim. You don't need them for home defense, unless you're fighting off cartel drug lords or the zombie apocalypse. And neither of those are worth the lives of 20 first graders.

That's why West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, one of the strongest friends of the NRA, is ceding this ground.

"I just came with my family from deer hunting," Manchin said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "I've never had more than three shells in a clip. Sometimes you don't get more than one shot anyway at a deer. It's common sense. It's time to move beyond rhetoric. We need to sit down and have a common sense discussion and move in a reasonable way."