When you’ve got been monitoring so-called “mainstream” media sources or seen Gallup’s current headline asserting their newest ballot findings on firearms, you’ll be led to imagine that an awesome majority of People wish to ban semi-automatic trendy sporting rifles, also called assault weapons.
Gallup’s report on the ballot carried the headline, “Majorities Nonetheless Again Stricter Gun Legal guidelines, Assault Weapons Ban.” And technically, that’s true. Nevertheless, channeling our internal Paul Harvey, now you’re going to listen to the remainder of the story.
In truth, a greater headline would have been, “Assist for Assault Weapons Ban Continues To Fall.” Right here’s a breakdown of the findings of this most up-to-date survey.
Whereas a majority, solely 52% of respondents stated they favored a legislation banning so-called “assault weapons,” whereas 48% responded that they didn’t favor such a ban. However what’s fascinating is that assist for such a ban continues to fall from yr to yr.
In 2019, when Gallup first requested the query, assist for such a ban was 61%, with solely 39% opposing, and by 2022, assist had dropped to 55%. If that pattern continues, by the point the query is requested once more it’s seemingly the bulk is not going to favor a ban.
The assertion that “majorities nonetheless again stricter gun legal guidelines” can also be considerably deceptive whenever you take a look at the pattern over the previous a number of years. On this yr’s ballot, 56% of People stated they like stricter gun legal guidelines, whereas these saying they need to be saved the identical made up 33%. 10% of respondents stated gun legal guidelines must be much less strict.
The essential discovering, nonetheless, is that assist for stricter legal guidelines has fallen precipitously over the previous few a long time, which in all probability would have made a extra correct headline. In truth, in 1990, the primary time Gallup requested the query, 78% of respondents stated they favored stricter gun legal guidelines—a full 22% greater than answered that manner this yr. And the 56% favoring strict gun legal guidelines this yr is down from 66% in June 2022 and 57% in October 2022. Final yr’s polling revealed the identical quantity—56%.
One factor the story did get proper was talked about within the subhead: “Assist for a ban on handguns within the U.S. dropped to a near-record low.” In 1990, 60% of People stated they favored a ban on handgun possession. Within the August survey, solely 20% favored such a ban, second lowest solely to 2021 when that quantity was 19%. Apparently, in keeping with the report, it’s the altering opinion of Democrats which have pushed that nice decline in assist.
“The decline in assist for a handgun ban this yr is basically owed to Democrats, whose backing has fallen by 16 factors since 2023 to 33%—a brand new low—after the group confirmed growing assist for a ban the prior two years,” the report acknowledged.
Solely 6% of Republicans favored a handgun ban on this yr’s survey, with 94% in opposition. The information for the report have been derived from Gallup’s crime ballot, carried out October 1-12.
