Gun violence is a national epidemic in America, with roughly 300 shootings and 90 gun deaths on an average day. That adds up to over 110,000 shootings and 30,000 deaths each year. Progressives have strongly advocated tougher gun safety measures like universal background checks for gun buyers, which would close loopholes to help keep guns out of the hands of those likely to misuse them. But because Republican intransigence has long thwarted any common-sense gun safety legislation, activists are making their case directly to voters in several states via ballot initiative in 2016.
While the National Rifle Association and the gun manufacturers it serves are a powerful lobby against every reform, measures like background checks are universally popular across party lines. Despite abysmal turnout in the 2014 Republican wave and vociferous NRA opposition, voters in Washington state voted 59-41 in favor of an initiative to require universal background checks, even for private sales. Similar measures will appear on the 2016 ballot in Maine and Nevada, and polls in both states show them passing by wide margins.
But background checks for buying the gun itself aren’t the only way voters can help combat gun violence in 2016. California voters face a ballot measure that would ban the possession of high-capacity magazines and require background checks for ammunition purchases. Meanwhile, a new Washington initiative would temporarily bar certain people from possessing a firearm if a court has issued an “extreme risk protection order” deeming a person to be a significant danger to themselves or others. Such orders might be particularly helpful in combating domestic violence and suicide deaths, the latter of which makes up two-thirds of gun deaths.
When Republicans in Congress and so many state legislatures oppose even the smallest actions to reduce gun violence, direct democracy is a crucial mechanism enabling the passage of broadly popular gun-safety measures. And with both public polling and Washington’s experience in mind, progressives should be able to find further success at the ballot box.