WASHINGTON — Second Amendment rights to carry firearms are cherished by most gun owners, a new poll finds — no surprise there. But the same poll says a sizable majority of those same gun owners, even members of the National Rifle Association, also strongly support some gun-control measures.
The poll, done for Mayors Against Illegal Guns, found that 76 percent of gun owners think people on the terrorist watch list should be barred from buying guns, and 68 percent were in favor of measures requiring gun owners to tell police if their guns are lost or stolen. The NRA has opposed such measures.
The May survey by Republican pollster Frank Luntz surveyed 945 gun owners nationwide, half of them “current or lapsed” members of the NRA. It has a margin of error of plus or minus three points.
An NRA spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.
“Gun owners and NRA members overwhelmingly support commonsense steps to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, even as the NRA leadership continues to oppose them,” said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Since the mass shooting in Aurora, Colo., Bloomberg has been pressing to make gun control an issue in the presidential campaign.
The poll also found that 82 percent of gun owners think anyone purchasing a gun should get a criminal background check. And 80 percent of the sample believed that concealed carry permits should only be granted to applicants who have completed gun safety training.
Other polls in recent years have found that support for gun control measures has steadily been dropping nationwide. But Lowell Baker, president of Luntz Global, said Tuesday he believes other surveys incorrectly framed the debate, by asking whether gun rights were more important than gun controls.
“It’s not an either/or choice,” he said, at a news conference sponsored by the Center for American Progress. “What they’re trying to tell us is they understand that with these rights come responsibilities.”
©2012 Tribune Co.
Gun control isn’t about guns, it’s about control.
They believe that concealed carry permit holder should be required to take a safety course. Here in Maine you can’t get a permit without a handgun safety course already!
No more gun control … what we need is to enforce the laws that are already on the books!
Why create more laws when:
1. Criminals do as they please without repercussions.
2. Mentally ill people go on a killing binge. Mental health budgets are first on budget cuts and we are seeing the results of decades of neglect. Put them on the street and prison does not work.
3. We do not have an incarceration budget to fund existing prison sentences.
4. DA’s plea bargain to reduce sentence time because of underfunded and overpopulated jails.
5. Too expensive death sentences and appeal processes when a firing squad will accomplish the deed immediately.
The only people impacted by gun control laws are law abiding citizens!
Why did gun sales surge in Colorado after the massacre?
How can we respect the media when they publish biased drivel such as this “poll” when the evidence suggests something totally opposite?
Your evidence? Data? Poll?
You are absolutely correct. You can have all the gun control laws in the world but it’s not going to
stop the criminals from getting weapons. Every weapon a
criminal could possibly want can be bought on the street, and I’m sure that they don’t give a damn about obtaining a concealed weapons permit or attending a gun safety course.
And 99% of guns “on the street” were originally bought by a law abiding citizen
No immediate response from the NRA. Wonder why. Looks like responsible, non-ideological gun owners are the silent majority.