Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

Polls: No Lasting Support for Gun Control One Year After Parkland

Friday, February 15, 2019

Polls: No Lasting Support for Gun Control One Year After Parkland

Thursday marked the one year anniversary of the terrible crimes at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL.

It was a somber occasion, but some media outlets couldn’t contain their glee this week that last year’s horror might finally advance the anti-gun agenda. A CNN headlined heralded “A new era on guns.” “After Parkland, everything is different,” Salon gushed.

But a new nationwide poll by NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist tells a different story. The News Hour headline summarized the essential point, “A year after Parkland, support sinks for stricter laws on gun sales … .”

Specifically, the percentage of adults favoring stricter laws covering the sale of guns has dropped 20 points since the immediate aftermath of the Parkland killings, to 51%. In contrast, 46% of those surveyed believe such laws should be less strict or kept as they are. The difference between these responses is essentially a statistical tie, given the poll’s margin of error.

As the Washington Post noted with reference to Gallup and Civiq’s dalily tracking polls, “public support for stricter gun laws has returned to pre-Parkland levels.”

The Marist poll also found only 42% of respondents believed stricter gun legislation should be an “immediate priority for the current congress,” versus 56% who opined that it was not an immediate priority or not a priority at all.

Nevertheless, on Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee advanced two major gun control bills along strict party lines. H.R. 8 would ban most firearm loans and transfers between two private parties. H.R. 1112 would eliminate the current three day safety valve for uncompleted NICS checks. It would instead institute a new procedure where the transferring FFL would have wait 10 business days after initiating the open NICS check.  The prospective purchaser would then have to petition the FBI for an answer to the query, then wait an additional 10 business days before the transfer can proceed.  

Contrary to these surveys, the bills were portrayed by their proponents as reflecting a resurgent demand for gun control following the events of Feb. 14, 2018.

Yet even those proponents could not claim that either bill would have prevented the incident at Parkland.

Nor are they likely to stop other firearm-related crimes. Archly anti-gun media outlet Vox.com recently admitted as much. “[A] growing body of research suggests that comprehensive background checks alone won’t do much, if anything, to combat gun violence in America,” it conceded, even as it argued for far stricter gun control measures.

Democrats likely have the votes to pass both H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112 in the House. Their prospects in the Senate, however, appear far less favorable.

Whatever might have changed after Parkland, it hasn’t altered the basic realities that Americans support the Second Amendment and that gun control advocates continue to push measures that would unfairly penalize law-abiding gun owners, without actually reducing violent crime.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, bedrock American values prove stubbornly resistant to gun control opportunism. Media firestorms always burn out eventually, but the flame of liberty endures.

Your NRA has been a keeper of that flame since 1871.

And unlike the media-fueled emotionalism of gun control supporters, we’re not going anywhere.

TRENDING NOW
Colorado: General Assembly Continues to Follow California's Lead; Semi-Auto Ban Scheduled For Hearing

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Colorado: General Assembly Continues to Follow California's Lead; Semi-Auto Ban Scheduled For Hearing

The Colorado General Assembly continues to follow California's lead when it comes to gun control, this year already pushing for an 11% Excise tax on firearms/ammunition and now pursuing a ban on commonly owned semi-automatic ...

Wisconsin: Legislation Updating the Definition of Muzzloader Signed by Governor Evers

Friday, March 15, 2024

Wisconsin: Legislation Updating the Definition of Muzzloader Signed by Governor Evers

Yesterday, the governor signed Wisconsin Act 116, formally Senate Bill 587, into law. This legislation establishes a new definition for “muzzleloaders” that would allow for the use of innovative technological advancements that could benefit sportsmen, ...

Maine: NRA Fires Back Against Gun Grabbers

Friday, March 15, 2024

Maine: NRA Fires Back Against Gun Grabbers

For months, anti-gun politicians and gun-grabbing groups have been running wild in Augusta, spreading misinformation about firearms in a desperate attempt to pass the most extreme gun-control in the country. The proposals carry the same theme, ...

Delaware: Senate Passes Maryland-Style Permit to Purchase Scheme

Friday, March 15, 2024

Delaware: Senate Passes Maryland-Style Permit to Purchase Scheme

Last night, the Delaware Senate passed Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill 2 (SB 2) by a vote of 15 to 6. This extreme legislation will impose a Maryland-style “handgun qualified purchase card” and a handgun transfer ...

Virginia: More than a Dozen Anti-Gun Bills Sent to the Governor!

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Virginia: More than a Dozen Anti-Gun Bills Sent to the Governor!

The newly elected Virginia General Assembly has prioritized restricting law-abiding citizens' Second Amendment rights and has made good on that priority this session. This year, dozens of anti-gun bills have been considered in both chambers ...

Colorado: Mandatory Storage Bill Passes Committee and Hearings Postponed Due to Weather

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Colorado: Mandatory Storage Bill Passes Committee and Hearings Postponed Due to Weather

Today, HB 24-1348 which mandates how firearms must be stored in unattended vehicles, passed out of the House Judiciary Committee and is now eligible for a final vote on the House Floor. Please contact your lawmakers by using the ...

Colorado: Semi-Auto Ban Introduced in General Assembly

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Colorado: Semi-Auto Ban Introduced in General Assembly

Anti-Gun extremist State Reps. Tim Hernandez (D-04) and Elisabeth Epps (D-06) introduced House Bill 24-1292, a bill banning the manufacturing, importing, purchasing, selling, offering to sell, or transferring ownership of so called “assault weapons”. 

Appropriations Bill Passes with Language Protecting Veterans’ Second Amendment Rights

News  

Monday, March 11, 2024

Appropriations Bill Passes with Language Protecting Veterans’ Second Amendment Rights

Last week, Congress approved a package of legislation to fund various government agencies that corrects a longstanding and shameful practice that had been depriving American veterans of their Second Amendment rights since 1998.

Idaho: Legislative Update- Big Wins in the Gem State

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Idaho: Legislative Update- Big Wins in the Gem State

There have been big wins in the Gem State this week for the Second Amendment! Anti school carry bill is stopped in its tracks in committee and multiple pro-guns bills are on the move in ...

Washington Post’s Somewhat Pro-Gun Column Inadvertently Exposes Problem with Mandatory Storage Laws

News  

Monday, March 11, 2024

Washington Post’s Somewhat Pro-Gun Column Inadvertently Exposes Problem with Mandatory Storage Laws

We generally don’t expect to see the Washington Post say anything positive about firearms or law-abiding gun owners, although there are occasional Op-Eds from pro-Second Amendment lawmakers, unbiased researchers and Constitutional scholars, and the like.

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.