Record-Low 26% in U.S. Favor Handgun Ban

[Abin Sur]

Support for stricter gun laws in general is lowest Gallup has measured
by Jeffrey M. Jones

PRINCETON, NJ -- A record-low 26% of Americans favor a legal ban on the possession of handguns in the United States other than by police and other authorized people. When Gallup first asked Americans this question in 1959, 60% favored banning handguns. But since 1975, the majority of Americans have opposed such a measure, with opposition around 70% in recent years.

[Iktomiwicasa]

1. "More winning"

Right, Mikey?

[vi5]

2. Is there actually such a law being proposed?

Or is this just more NRA combination fundraising/paranoia?

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. That really doesn't matter if you're paranoid.

It could be 0% and they'd still be wringing their hands.

[cleanhippie]

7. It would appear that you are the one wringing hands.

:shrug:


Much of this country is putting this non-issue behind us, because the warnings about blood in the streets and rising crime never materialized, and are moving on to the IMPORTANT issues.

[TheCowsCameHome]

8. Not I.

However, some here keep posting this same stuff over and over, instead of "putting this non-issue behind us" :rofl:

[cleanhippie]

10. No, of course not you.

:rofl:

[Abin Sur]

5. Gallup has been asking this question since 1959.

While the VPC and Brady crowd would no doubt love to enact such a law,

http://www.vpc.org/studies/unsafe.htm

there have been (as far as I know) no recent attempts to ban handguns at the national level. Polls such as this illustrate why this is the case.

[slackmaster]

14. Yes, handgun bans are being proposed constantly

http://www.vpc.org/studies/unsafe.htm

[TheCowsCameHome]

19. That's the same a post #5

Good DU'ers don't post dupes.

[SteveM]

15. Uh, I think the OP said it was the Gallup organization.

Funny how statistics, some compiled over a 50+ year history, are deemed "NRA combination fundraising/paranoia."

[oneshooter]

20. One DU member is pushing for such a ban. n/t

[vi5]

22. Holy crap! Really?!?!?!?!

Gallup commissioned a poll on the subject because of this DU members incredible power to ban handguns? That person must really yield some kind of influence.

[Endangered Specie]

21. Such laws EXISTED (until very recently) in a number of parts of the US

DC, Chicago, many suburbs of Chicago (basically all of Cook Co.), NYC its darn near impossible to get one.

[gejohnston]

29. South Carolina

from about 1902 util about 1966.

[We_Have_A_Problem]

4. Must be that backlash we keep hearing about... n/t

[ileus]

6. Real freedom is on the march...

[dtexdem]

9. Irrelevant: I'm a strong gun-control advocate but I don't support such a total ban.

Although localities should be able to enact such bans as consistent with their own needs.

[jeepnstein]

11. Really?

So it's OK to deny Constitutional Rights as long as it's done at a strictly local level? Do you work for the Selma, Alabama Chamber of Commerce or something?

[Glassunion]

12. Ahh Good ole Free Sp...

Selma Alabama: A ..... town, with a ...... town council. Where one is ... free to ..... their mind about the ...... .. things that the council ..... on.

[friendly_iconoclast]

13. Two Wikipedia entries, just for you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_v._Virginia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_v._Texas


You were saying?

[We_Have_A_Problem]

17. How do you reconcile....

...that belief with the idea of localities restricting other civil rights?

[Glassunion]

16. The wise speak only of what they know

[rl6214]

18. Oh the backlash

[Hoopla Phil]

23. And the backlash marches on. It's just that some don't know when it really started.

yup

[Hoyt]

24. Sure would like to see a poll asking if folks want people WALKING around in public with these guns.

I bet results would be quite different. For example, I really don't care that some people have to have a closet full of so-called assault rifles to enjoy their life (and I hope for their and society's sake they mature). But, I'm adamantly against carrying guns in public.

There is a big difference between allowing folks to have guns in their home and carrying the dang things in public where children play, and 90+% of people venture every day without a gun, or even the thought of carrying the dang things.

[derby378]

25. I simply assume that you're packing heat if I see you in public

Maybe you're carrying a concealed handgun. Maybe you're not. No skin off my nose either way, as I choose to live and let live.

I'm in a Starbucks right now with 10 other folks, not counting the barrista. Chances are excellent that one of them is packing. Doesn't bother me one bit. Now if someone tries to do something stupid with his or her handgun, that's when I'm going to take offense. Maybe I'll try to talk the offender down, if possible. Maybe I'll be forced to respond with deadly force if the cops don't show up in time. I'd rather not go there, but I do realize that this is a possibility, and I'd be foolish not to prepare for it.

[ileus]

26. but baser gunner toter blood is gonna flow in your coffee because of a rude impolite toter.

[Hoyt]

28. Your buddy above showed some sense agreeing something like that is a real possibility. You, on the

the other hand, won't accept that possibility.

[ileus]

30. hey..I'm on your side here what part of gunner baser did you miss?

[Hoyt]

27. It's a strong possibility. We should avoid it. Too bad gunners won't help.