Poll: Majority support Assault Weapons Ban
A survey released last week shows a majority of Americans are in favor of continuing the ban on assault weapons, and in households with National Rifle Association members, the numbers were about evenly split.
The survey, which interviewed 28,446 persons from Oct. 7 to April 19, shows 71 percent of people in households without guns support extending the law, as do 64 percent of those in households with guns.
I have found that a lot of non-gun folks I talk to support the ban. However, when I explain to them how the ban works (i.e., it’s not a ban and it has nothing to do with assault weapons), they usually respond by commenting on how it is a waste.
The problem is that the constant barrage of lies and distortions from anti-gun groups leaves most people who are only minimally knowledgeable of guns with the impression that the law bans machine guns (bullet hoses, spray fire, insert other buzzword designed to mislead people that it targets machine guns). It will take a lot to undo the lies and propaganda of the anti-gun groups.
April 27th, 2004 at 12:07 am
Tell the truth now. Did you really ask these people if they favored a law prohibiting the distribution of additional new firearms featuring certain combinations of features which are largely cosmetic?
April 28th, 2004 at 6:13 pm
Actually, the problem is that the majority of the public can’t find the truth among the lies and propaganda fed to them by both sides of the issue.
The “gun show loophole” is a great example. It may not technically be a “loophole” as its opponents tend to say, but the pro-gun folks make it sound as if someone has to go through all the same background checks to buy a gun at a show as they would to buy one at a gun shop. Neither is exactly accurate, and both sides of the issue have a vested interest in obscuring the truth of the matter, regardless of what that may be.
The average Joe generally wants a solution that neither vocal side of the gun issue would be happy with, so the average Joe gets fed BS by both sides.
April 28th, 2004 at 7:08 pm
the pro-gun folks make it sound as if someone has to go through all the same background checks to buy a gun at a show as they would to buy one at a gun shop.
Actually, that is entirely true.
April 29th, 2004 at 2:00 pm
Uncle:
So what you’re telling me is that there’s absolutely no difference between my ability to buy a gun at a gun show than to buy one at a shop? That there’s NO way I can buy a gun at a show without going through exactly the same process?
April 29th, 2004 at 2:01 pm
Yup.