How Americans Actually Feel About Stronger Gun Laws (Gun Control Activism Group)

[DeepModem Mom]

Two journalists in Virginia gunned down on live television by a man who also injured a third person. Two women shot and killed, along with nine other people who were injured and survived, inside a Louisiana movie theater. Nine parishioners massacred inside a South Carolina church.

Each horrifying burst of violence captured widespread attention in ways the daily cavalcade of people shot and killed across the United States rarely does, breaking through what has become a fog of pain and misery so ubiquitous as to sometimes seem like background noise. Each shooting prompted calls for stronger gun control laws, which were in turn followed by the usual reminders that such laws were unlikely to follow.

But how do people in the United States actually feel about the country’s gun laws as they currently stand? In short: There is a lot of disagreement about some proposals and gun ownership itself, but when it comes to a few particular areas, polls show Americans are still strongly in favor of adding new policies and restrictions.

Take three specific proposals: Adding background checks to private gun sales, banning people with mental illnesses from buying guns and creating a federal database to track gun sale. Public support for these changes range from very strong to overwhelming, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in July.

Background checks for all gun sales, not just those sold in stores, are supported by 85 percent of respondents, Pew’s poll found. Laws meant to stop mentally ill people from buying guns have support from 79 percent, while 70 percent support a federal database tracking gun sales. A fourth proposal — banning assault-style firearms — is supported by a majority of Americans (57 percent), but the margin is slimmer....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/08/29/how-americans-actually-feel-about-stronger-gun-laws/?tid=sm_tw via Washington Post

[HassleCat]

1. Two outta three ain't bad

"Take three specific proposals: Adding background checks to private gun sales, banning people with mental illnesses from buying guns and creating a federal database to track gun sale. Public support for these changes range from very strong to overwhelming, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in July."

I think the first two could get through Congress, given the right leadership. The federal database would never fly, and might violate the 2nd Amendment, as interpreted by the courts.

Expanded background checks should fly right through Congress, even though the NRA fights against them. The NRA barely succeeded in opposing them last time, and their reasoning (propaganda) is getting weaker as time goes on. Last go-round, the just flat out lied and said background checks would be used to compose a national database that amounted to gun registration. The next time this comes up, they will have to answer for that lie, and it will be more difficult for Congress members to obey their orders.

Denying people with mental illness the right to own firearms should be pretty easy, but you have to remember what "mental illness" means in terms of constitutional rights. A court has to determine a person is not mentally competent to the degree he or she might present a danger to self or others. That's a pretty high bar, and only a few people would be denied guns based on that standard.

A federal database to track gun sales will not fly. Remember, it's the big bad federal gummit. Most states have gun sales information that allow law enforcement authorities to track down specific guns, so it might not even be necessary.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Thanks so much for your post. I'm new to this subject, just drawn to it...

by the gun violence I read about every day.

[-none]

2. Another one... or so -

Any Federal firearms licensed dealer, knowing engaged in straw sales, loses his license and goes to a federal lock-up for a minimum of 5 years. Those dealers engaging in straw sales will be easy to identify by the records they are required to keep. That alone would put a major dent in criminals acquiring their guns.

ALL guns transfers must be registered through a Federal Firearms Licensed dealer (see above).
Guns, being designed to kill, are deadly weapons and need to be treated and tracked as such from manufacture to destruction. We don't sell explosive to just anyone, why tools designed for mass murder?
Go after the gun owners, licensed and otherwise, that are making a living by trafficking under the table and watch our gun murder rate plummet in a few years.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Thanks for your post! I'm new to this subject, and learning things. n/t