The majority of Americans want stricter gun laws. That’s a simple fact. Second Amendment advocates like the NRA like to argue that there are existing laws and that criminals don’t follow laws anyhoo, so why even have laws in the first place? Either way, whether there is a well-publicized mass murder involving guns or not, Americans still want their government to do something to regulate what is clearly an American problem with firearms and public safety.
But what would those laws look like? There are a variety of ideas thrown out there by no-good peaceniks that range from enforcing bans on the most lethal weapons to bans on all firearms. However, there are lots of potential gun ownership safety measures that Americans do agree on. These are things that, in a political climate devoid of a fully corrupted political party, would easily be bipartisan legislation, such as universal background checks.
A new poll conducted by Civiqs for Daily Kos shows that 83 percent of people asked said that they supported “requiring background checks for all gun purchases,” with 13 percent saying they did not, and 3 percent saying they were unsure.
And the support for universal background checks to purchase firearms came from people across the spectrum of politics, race, education, and age. Almost three-quarters of self-identified Republicans said they supported background checks, and even three-quarters of respondents who said they watched Fox News “frequently” agreed that at least this form of gun safety measure should be pursued.
One of the nice things about this is that studies have shown a connection between states that have background checks for gun purchases and lower firearm homicide rates. Grassroots organizers are pushing Democratic representatives on this very idea. Since everyone is in agreement, we could keep our Second Amendment and take the easy-to-agree-upon baby step of trying to make our country safer.