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Three polls show more support for automatic weapons ban, but little tolerance for expanded gun-control laws.
Two polls show people in Colorado, Wisconsin and Virginia — three key 2012 election swing states where mass shootings have recently occurred — favor banning assault weapons yet don’t think stricter gun-control laws will deter killing sprees by crazed gunmen.
Poll results by Public Policy Polling and Quinnipiac University were released on Aug. 8. The next day, a national poll asking similar questions was released by CNN/ORC International.
Public Policy Polling reported Colorado voters favor banning assault weapons, with 58 percent supporting a ban and 35 percent opposing. Those results were supported by a survey conducted by Quinnipiac University in conjunction with The New York Times and CBS News, which indicated that 58 percent of likely Colorado voters also favor a national ban on high-capacity clips and magazines.
However, the CNN/ORC International poll indicates that the public remains divided on the issue, with 50 percent saying they favor no restrictions or only minor restrictions on owning guns and 48 percent supporting major restrictions or a complete ban on gun ownership by individuals except police and other authorized personnel.
The Colorado poll results are “great news,” State Rep. Beth McCann, Denver told The Colorado Independent. “The poll results give me more confidence that Colorado voters don’t think assault weapons need to be available to people other than police officers or those in the military. I am very pleased. This is encouraging.”
McCann says she may introduce legislation regulating assault weapons and ammunition in the next session of the Colorado Legislature.
But as Jennifer Rubin writes in an August 8 Washington Post article, none of the poll results show significant support for gun control initiatives being sponsored by anti-gun federal and state legislators.
Rubin notes that only four in 10 likely voters say gun laws in their individual states should be made more strict in the Quinnipiac poll, and as many voters in Virginia say the laws should stay the way they are, as do about half of voters in Colorado and Wisconsin.
In fact, she writes, the only conclusive statistic from the three polls is 60 percent of voters in Virginia and Wisconsin, and two-thirds in Colorado, say stricter laws would not deter gunmen intent on mass shootings.
“Liberals would like us to believe we don’t have stricter gun control laws because politicians are putty in the hands of the National Rifle Association,” Rubin writes. “In fact, most polls are exquisitely attuned to popular opinion. The reason neither Democrats or Republicans aren’t pushing for gun control is that voters don’t want it. Democracy can be a stubborn thing.”
For more, go to:
Majority Of Coloradans Favor Banning Assault Weapons, High-Capacity Magazines: Two New Polls Show
New poll: Coloradans lean toward banning high-capacity clips, assault weapons
By the numbers: Guns in America
CNN Poll: Gun control opinions following shootings
Americans divided over gun control after mass shootings: poll
Poll: Gun laws won’t stop shootings
Three Key States, Split Evenly
[Thumbs down on gun control](https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/thumbs-down-on-gun/ control/2012/08/08/b7c18cce-e184-11e1-98e7-89d659f9c106_blog.html )
Mixed Views Are Found on Stricter Laws for Guns