In the wake of a string of deadly mass shootings—and as high school students take the lead on pushing for change—public opinion on gun laws is shifting, an AP-NORC poll finds:
Overall, 69 percent say gun laws in the United States should be made stricter, while 9 percent say they should be less strict and 22 percent say they should be left as they are. The number saying they should be made stricter represents an increase since October when 61 percent said the same. [...]
Seventy percent support a ban on bump stocks, the devices that allow semi-automatic guns to function as automatic weapons, and 58 percent favor a nationwide ban on AR-15 rifles and similar semiautomatic weapons. Only 38 percent favor a law in their state allowing trained teachers and administrators to be armed in schools.
The shift includes gun owners, and even some people who aren't exactly immune to made-up memes and conspiracy theory chain emails are taking part:
“That’s what Hitler did,” said Flora McIntyre, of Simi Valley, California, repeating a common, but inaccurate, line of criticism against gun control measures. “Hitler made everyone register their guns. Then he came and collected all the guns.”
But when asked about specific gun control prescriptions, the 82-year-old retired nurse, who said she owns a rifle and a .44 Magnum, said she favored stronger background checks and limits on the number of bullets allowed in a gun magazine. She also opposes President Donald Trump’s plan to give guns to trained teachers.
Okay, then!
No amount of polling will shift most Republican politicians on this issue, of course, because their hardest-core base and their NRA overlords are against it. But the wave of change is definitely building.