In Gallup polling conducted prior to last week's gun massacre at an immigrant center in Binghamton, N.Y., only 29% of Americans said the possession of handguns by private citizens should be banned in the United States. While similar to the 30% recorded in 2007, the latest reading is the smallest percentage favoring a handgun ban since Gallup first polled on this nearly 50 years ago.Two factors are at work here...the public at large now acknowledges that draconian laws simply do not work and, in fact, can't work...and right now a substantial portion of the public at large is more afraid of its government than it is of a lone gunman.Public support for restricting the sale and possession of handguns to "police and other authorized persons" was relatively high in the early 1990s, with 41% to 43% in favor, but has since edged lower. At the same time, opposition to a ban has increased from 53% in 1991 to 69% in the most recent survey.
The latest figures come from the most recent installment of Gallup's annual Crime survey, conducted Oct. 3-5, 2008. It is unclear what impact, if any, the recent Binghamton incident may have on Americans' views of gun control.
Separately, the October Crime survey found just under half of Americans, 49%, wanting the laws covering the sale of firearms to be made stricter than they are now. This is the lowest percentage favoring stricter gun laws in Gallup trends since the question was first asked in 1990. While only 8% say gun laws should be made less strict, 41% say they should remain as they are now.
BTW, I agree with DRTV regular RASTUS commenting on my last post...the more the media gives deranged killers what they want even in death — fame, "significance," blah blah — the more likely we are to have more of the same. I agree with the comments on the changed (for the worse) nature of American society, but I think the overwhelming "drivers" here are the current social tension, which is still ratcheting up, and endless media attention catering to psychopaths.
I fear we have entered a time of blood...stay armed; stay aware!
"BTW, I agree with DRTV regular RASTUS commenting on my last post"
ReplyDeleteYou mean the one where he said, "I think you are right, Dave"?
;-)
It's OK, I'm pretty new to the club. I'll be one of the cool kids someday... ;-)
Get ready, the "We can't waste a good crisis" crowd is about to go "full-mobile"! There will be little presentation of facts. There will be much "Pravda". They will go for it all this time. I can't wait for the ABC 20/20 special "If I only had a gun" to air. I'll bet that it will be just like those cheesy "info-mercials" showing the dumb guy, or gal, trying to use a gun, even after the training.
ReplyDeleteWe need to remind everyone that the Columbine incident was STOPPED from going any further, by a legally armed man. Further, the perp's had two propane bottles, big ones, all rigged to detonate in the cafeteria. They had placed them there, using athletic duffle bags as "camo", ahead of time. Thank God that they were stopped before they could have gotten to them.
We need to work on the actual root-cause of this violence, not an extraneous factor like gun ownership. This behaviour is learned. Our liberal society is responsible for rationalizining it to the killers. Even yesterday, the much respected Dr. Keith Ablow was commenting on this type of behaviour on the Glenn beck show and he only talked about how these empathy-less people had similar treatment to them earlier in their lives. HE DID NOT EVEN ATTEMPT TO SAY EMPHATICALLY THAT THIS ISN'T JUSTIFIED AND WE JUST AREN'T SUPPOSED TO DO THESE THINGS! No one has the backbone to take this issue on. Somehow, it's someone elses fault! They only want to coddle these types of people and oh yeah the government will protect you by taking guns away from everyone and the therapists are here to help you for $175 per hour. Of course, they offer no guarantees!
Life Member
We need to remind everyone that the Columbine incident was STOPPED from going any further, by a legally armed man.
ReplyDeleteHuh?
Although every school shooting incident that was stopped was stopped by a privately-armed citizen (as opposed to law enforcement, who is currently still batting zero), Columbine was not one of them. Columbine wasn't stopped.
Another two well-televised reasons why gun control is no longer such a no-brainer:
ReplyDelete1. September 11, 2001
2. Hurricane Katrina
Maybe some of the people that wanted handguns banned before now just want their own handgun for protection.
ReplyDeleteThese attacks aren't about the availability of guns. they are about people getting depressed about everything going on around them. The economy, a lack of faith in every branch of leadership in this Country, etc.. People don't go on suicidal rampages if they think everything is going to get better.
This may be a time to arm up, and hope we never have to use deadly force.
"One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them." -- Thomas Jefferson
When you can't load the image in your blog, try loading the URL.
ReplyDeleteThat works.