Where do the American people really stand on gun control?

If you want to know how the general population feels about gun control look no further than the wave of permitless concealed carry laws across the country. State after state are adding it.

Ohio just adopted stand your ground. Many, many localities and even states have adopted 2nd amendment sanctuary measures.

Forget the polls, just look at what the voters are demanding from their representatives.
 
I also don’t think it helps gun owners in the least bit when people like Ted Nugent opens his mouth whenever the gun control debate comes up. I’m not saying he’s not right about the issue but I firmly believe that pro-2A groups need to enlist someone who’s more even keeled and doesn’t come off sounding like a lunatic.
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And elected members of congress posing with rifles after mass shootings don't help either. The message loses potency if the messenger is an idiot.
 
This CA map shows CCW issue policy county by county. Marin has "virtually no issue". I heard this low CCW issue count claimed by the man who got denied a CCW on an application because he was a victim of sexual assault. If that map is accurate, I would say the denied man was pretty close when he said there only two CCWs issued in that particular county. Suffice it to say, it's next to impossible for you or I to get a CCW in that county unless you are some "big wig".

https://www.reddit.com/r/CAguns/comments/m92wfq/ca_ccw_issue_map_for_winter_2021/
 
Every time people go into an ammo buying panic, it makes me think that the American people don't want gun control or they wouldn't be buying so much ammo. I suppose my logic could be flawed but it would take a lot to convince me that I'm wrong...

Tony
 
Last November, the American gun/ammo buying craze just didn't jibe with election results. How could so many gun buyers vote for Joe? The arithmetic and logic doesn't seem like it's there. It had to have been a big Democratic voting fraud. America is now being run by a fake Congress and a fake Presidency.

Gun buyers just don't vote Demo.

The evidence of American gun popularity overwhelmingly shows Trump and the GOP was cheated in the fixed election. It gets no more damning than that.


-two-time Trump voter here
 
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You would just about have to write a book to effectively cover this topic. Here are just a few observations.

1. Republicans don't support your right to keep and bear arms any more than Democrats do. Paul Ryan couldn't manage to get National Repricocity through a Republican majority Congress (House and Senate) and to the desk of a nominally republican President in two years.,

Remember "Take the guns first then due process." from the guy who directed the AFT to retroactively declare bump stocks machine guns?

Speaking of bumpstocks, how many people on this forum that's supposedly a discussion group for Second Amendment advocates had no problem with that directive because it didn't affect them?

How many people on this forum that's supposedly a discussion group for Second Amendment advocates don't support Constituional Carry because you can't have just anybody walking around with a gun?

How many people on this forum that's supposedly a discussion group for Second Amendment advocates fully support universal background checks and ad extralegal conditions to any private firearms sale they conduct?

Ronaldus Magnus signed The Mulford Act and supported the Clinton AWB.

Nixon fully supported a national ban on handguns.

Dan Crenshaw supports red flag laws.

Bottom line, Republicans don't support the RKBA.

the majority of the voting public don't even understand gun laws or how guns work. Show them an M16 and an AR15 they won't know the difference or care.

Less than 5% of Americans have CHPs I would bet less than half of them actually carry.

I would say the majority of the gun owning public couldn't care less what laws are passed as long as their duck gun, deer gun and maybe a .38 for "home defense" aren't banned.

I won't be here but I expect my great grandkids will live in an America where citizens aren't permitted to own firearms.
 
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Adding to Moonglum's examples, ...

How many people on this forum think CCW permitees should have to take mandatory classes?
How many people on this forum think the 2nd amendment should not apply to folks with mental handicaps?

Pro gun President Reagan signed the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986. He also supported the 1993 Brady Bill and 1994 Assault Weapon Ban.
Pro gun President Trump (remember all the great things people thought he was going to do for us?) supported and endorsed the banning of bump stocks.
Pro gun Trump wasn't against banning suppressors.

Yes, AlongCameJones, a lot of Democrats do buy guns. Where you got the notion that they don't is beyond me.
 
To add to what I said above, even Lauren Boebert Boebert requires any server who works in her restaurant to complete a Colorado approved concealed handgun permit class before Open Carrying on the clock.

Colorado law has no such requirement
 
Yes, AlongCameJones, a lot of Democrats do buy guns. Where you got the notion that they don't is beyond me.
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Yep. I'm willing to bet that a lot of the new gun buyers we saw in the last year were likely those that don't vote, or possible those that voted D but bought guns in a panic. My brother and his wife are Conservatives but his wife doesn't like guns. Just because someone leans in a certain political direction doesn't mean they don't support gun ownership.
 
Most Americans live pay check to paycheck. This means two things to me. First, they are too busy seeking pleasure to really focus on the issues at hand. Second, they are too busy stressing about how to pay for their overindulgent lifestyle that they are too busy to focus on the issues at hand, including gun control.
 
When people or their loved ones become victims of violent crimes, or feel they are threatened by violent crime, do they clamor for more gun control or more gun rights?

I should hope those people who went out and bought guns because of riot fears, the mass shooting scare or whatever, gave some thought about protecting those guns from govt. take-away over the future.

Actually, the Libertarians, by far, are the most pro-gun political party but good luck in having them take Washington over. It just seems that in modern times the GOP isn't nearly as great a threat to gun rights as the Demos. I can't vote Libertarian because that's like taking a vote from the GOP and giving it to the Demos. The GOP is the lesser of two evils.

I never knew Nixon was anti-handgun. My grandfather was pro-gun-rights and twice a Nixon voter. The Red states tend to lean pro-gun rights and also lean GOP and conservative. Most CC states are Red on the map. I get these notions about the GOP and gun rights by studying map colors. Probably most American gun owners/voters and especially those in Red areas perceive the conservatives or Republicans as their friend. I perceive the GOP, though not perfect, as less of a threat to the 2nd A anyway.
 
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When people or their loved ones become victims of violent crimes, or feel they are threatened by violent crime, do they clamor for more gun control or more gun rights?
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I'd say it's a bit of both. The idealists think that adding more gun control will erase crime. The realists understands that crime will happen regardless and want to keep our gun rights.
 
Moonglum said:
the majority of the voting public don't even understand gun laws or how guns work.
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This stands out as an accurate assessment of the american political landscape.

Moonglum said:
1. Republicans don't support your right to keep and bear arms any more than Democrats do. Paul Ryan couldn't manage to get National Repricocity through a Republican majority Congress (House and Senate) and to the desk of a nominally republican President in two years.,
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Your opening sentence is incorrect and not supported by the following text.

As Bart Roberts noted a couple of years ago,

Some Republicans do support gun control. It has bipartisan support. The thing is, gun rights used to have bipartisan support as well. That’s no longer true at the national level. The Democratic party is putting forth candidates well to the left of Obama on guns. And not one or two - ALL of them.
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Paul Ryan's failure to secure a legislative victory isn't the sort of affirmative attack on the right on which Sen. Feinstein has made a career and on which national level dems agree. Examples of republican presidents a half century ago, when John Dingle was a face of 2d Am. right in the House, highlight the current reality.

Congressionally, in 1994 each party had some outliers voting contrary to pattern for and against the 1994 AWB. A quarter century later, the continued legal recognition of the right rests in part on Sup Court justices recognizing the 2d Am and conceding that Heller was correctly decided, and Senate dems are conspicuous in their opposition to that effort.

The insinuation that at a national level the parties are the same on this issue is false.

If you've local officeholders that depart from the national pattern, that's outstanding.
 
Last numbers I saw were 55% against gun control, 30% for and 25% undecided IIRC.
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110% of Americans responded to this poll. :D

CNN reports poll results heavily in favor of gun control measures. Point is, and many have alluded to this, there is no comprehensive or accurate gun control poll out there. Those, be they far/middle-right/left, that conduct their surveys tend to connect with those of similar beliefs and thus confirm their own paradigm using incomplete data; or... play with their conclusions to suit the attitudes of their paying audience. No reported "poll" is truly trustworthy.

Regional needs also contribute to different surveys. Citizens in rural Wyoming have different firearms needs than citizens in suburban Chicago. Different areas with different needs can, and should, have differing laws to suit the needs of the local area. Regional polls will reflect regional needs and beliefs.

Asking if someone believes in gun control is too simplistic. Aside from the jokes, what exactly does gun control look like? A total ban? Only assault rifles? Limited-capacity magazines? Universal background checks? Mandatory training classes?The blanket question needs to be parsed.

I think that we all believe in some level of gun control. Disagree? Look at the list of arrestees in your local paper and read descriptions of their crimes. Ask, does that dude (or dudette) deserve the same access to firearms that I am afforded.
 
This statement is 100% verifiably false.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/23/polit...ats/index.html
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I'd encourage a review of that CNN piece. Manchin's issue isn't whether additional restrictions should be imposed, but whether the full load of additional restrictions should be imposed now. It's true that Manchin is a transitional figure at odds with his party on several issues that weren't large stories when Roberts made that observation.

On the other hand, it was McConnell who refused to give Feinstein's evergreen firearm restriction proposal a vote following Sandyhook.

That should not save repubs from criticism on civil liberties issues where they earn it. Crenshaw is wrong on RFLs. My governor, Mike DeWine, is wrong on those and was opposed with such great vigor by repubs in the state legislature that he may have ended his political career.
The details on these issues matter. Waving those details aside with a sense that one party is no worse or better on the issue is an obfuscation. In terms of Sup Ct nominees, those differences may be profound.

Let's give Sen. Manchin unicorn status. That still doesn't leave the parties indistinguishable on 2d Am. issues.

If protecting the terms of the 2d Am. is a significant issue for you, I'd encourage an examination of the Heller vote and who nominated the respective justices. The result isn't monochromatic; Souter spent a career disappointing the people who backed him for that spot. The impact of electoral trends on the direction of the Sup Ct are there to be seen, unless one would prefer no to see them.
 
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Manchin is dancing a tight rope, imho. He knows it would be political suicide to vote for any gun control measures in WV, so he always says that whatever is being proposed is too far.

He'll never support any GC legislation, but whatever is proposed is too much.
 
Manchin is dancing a tight rope, imho. He knows it would be political suicide to vote for any gun control measures in WV, so he always says that whatever is being proposed is too far.
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I think you've accurately located the geographical foundation for his peculiar position within the Senate. He is liked for his personality within a state that might not be a safe seat for many other democrat senators, and he is neither free to be a good team player for his party, not is he free to burn bridges within his caucus. It's a situation that Phil Graham and Richard Shelby eventually resolved with a party switch. Jim Jeffords switched the other way, though formally he was an independent.

Without regard for the reason for a switch, it seems to be a transformation only undertaken by the most confident of officeholders.
 
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