Poll says most Coloradans wants weapons like these banned.
Coloradans, according to a SurveyUSA
poll commissioned by the
Denver Post, have moved in favor of more gun restrictions since September when they were last polled. But their views reflect mixed feelings proving that gun-control advocates have some educating to do about the National Rifle Association.
The earlier poll came in the wake of the July 20 slaughter at a premiere showing of The Dark Knight Rises at a theater in the east of Denver suburb of Aurora, which reopened for the first time last Thursday. That shooting took the lives of 12 people and injured 70 others. But, despite being closer to home, it didn't have the impact that the massacre of 20 kids and six adults in Newtown, Connecticut, did in December.
In the September poll, 56 percent of the Coloradans surveyed saying that protecting people's right to own guns was more important, while 39 percent said controlling gun ownership was more important. But the latest poll found 50 percent saying that protecting the right to own guns is more important, with 45 percent saying it is more important to control who owns them.
Also in the latest poll, 56 percent said they support or strongly support the views of the leadership of the NRA gun lobby, while only 30 percent oppose or strongly oppose it. And, by a 56 percent to 35 percent margin, they think the best way to reduce gun violence is by stricter enforcement of existing laws rather than by passing new gun-control laws.
When it comes to three specifics, however, they come down on a different side of things. In fact, they agree with President Obama's proposals in these matters:
• 70 percent (versus 14 percent) favor a law that requires background checks for all gun sales, including private sales. (83 percent of Democrats favor such a law.)
• 54 percent (versus 30 percent) favor a law that reinstates and strengthens the assault weapons ban. (71 percent of Democrats favor such a law.)
• 53 percent (versus 35 percent) favor a law that restores the 10-round limit on ammunition magazines. (69 percent of Democrats favor such a law.)
Those responses illustrate the necessity of pointing out again and again to the public how far out of step the NRA's right-wing conspiracy-mongering leadership is when it comes to gun control.