“A record-low 26% of Americans favor a legal ban on the possession of handguns in the United States other than by police and other authorized people,” gallup.com pronounces, spinning the stat exactly backwards. “When Gallup first asked Americans this question in 1959, 60% favored banning handguns. But since 1975, the majority of Americans have opposed such a measure, with opposition around 70% in recent years.” Despite the fact that hardly anyone in America knows what an assault weapon is (I have that trouble myself), over half of those surveyed (53 percent) don’t want them banned. Make the jump for a graphic showing the stunning four-year reversal.

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24 COMMENTS

  2. The “assualt weapon” ban statistic (53% opposed) was disheartening … At least until I saw the graph that laid bare the progress we’ve made on that front.

    • My dad, who enjoys shooting, went on a rant the other day about how “no one needs a silencer or a fully automatic weapon”. I nearly cried (not really, but it was disheartening to hear). He definitely has no problem with semi-auto versions of AK’s and AR’s though.

  4. In other news, 87% of American favor banning stupid polls. The other 13% who were surveyed are politicians so their responses were unintelligible.

    • Another poll found that 64% of Americans believe that 82% of statistics are made up on the spot, 47% of the time.

      (I couldn’t resist.)

      • Research shows that 73% of all people who use the term “research shows”, are just making shit up.

  5. Too funny Ralph.

    The thing to remember is that gun owners better not get complacent as all gains can be lost.

    • I think we have too many restrictions to become complacent. Not until the NFA and GCA are dismantled will you see much complacency.

  6. another heartening aspect of these poll results when combined with the current political climate is that Obama would have a political death wish to as any anti gun elements to his platform in the next election cycle. He is too busy trying to explain away our current mess we are in.

    • After the election, he’ll have four years as a lame duck to try to f^ck with 2A. Pray for the Republicans to keep the House and take the Senate. It’s not that we can actually trust the Republicans, but they’ll oppose any Obama initiatives on gun control out of partisanship if for no other reason.

  7. I believe people are starting to notice the trend of towns laying off more police and the government is not helping the majority of people but the 1%. Crime is on the rise and more and more people have found that those in authority are themselves criminals. Recent arrests in police departments and the ATF’s recent fiascos seem to point to a need for the people to fend for themselves.

      • I’m from joisy, where we can’t cary. Shootings have gone up in Newark and other towns like it where they layed off cops. And as for camping, I prefer to pitch my tent in the woods.

  8. Those graphs should be in the forefront of thought the next time someone whines about the latest travesty committed on a reality TV show about guns.

    I want women with pink pistols and ridiculously useless black gun contraptions on the tube and in popular culture. Don’t care about the details, just more. More, more, and more, by the effing thousands.

    Namely as after a decade of that, you can expect those graphed trends to continue in the direction of sanity.

  11. Funny, going out to do errands and realizing that a quarter of the people I meet are irrational, head-in-the-sand morons. Though to be honest, I thought it’d be more.

  12. The long-term trends are interesting. I’m actually wondering ‘why’ people are moving in this direction when so much else of America is moving away from self-reliance and more into embracing nanny-police state values. The messaging that has been repeatedly pumped out about guns for many decades from all our nation’s cultural institutions has been negative. Government, schools, religious institutions, entertainment, mass media/advertising, etc have advocated for more gun control if not outright bans, and have also demonized gun owners. I’m also thrilled that people are increasingly turning against the male-hating feminist propaganda machine that also has the support and advocacy by the nation’s cultural institutions.

  13. In the new American Rifleman there is a decent article in the Standing Guard section. Summary: LaPierre shares a conversation with a young shooter who was too young to recall the “bad old days” of bans & such. It was worth reading as it shared a viewpoint from someone who only knows of gun victories not defeats.

  14. Excerpt from the linked poll:
    “Perhaps the trends are a reflection of the American public’s acceptance of guns. In 2008, Gallup found widespread agreement with the idea that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right of Americans to own guns.”

    Question: “Does the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantee the right of Americans to own guns?”
    ( Caution: If you answer “Yes” you’re wrong. )

    Oh, BTW, and under the category of Quote Me on this one.
    “Sooner or later, the cases being decided in courts and through legislation enacted on State and Federal levels will be used as a framework for the Federal Firearms Safety Act.
    Translated as; Federal requirements for registration of all firearms and their owners in order to ‘legally’ possess and transfer a firearm. ( Suggested title may be different from that used to identify the actual Act as enacted, and of course and as always Individual results may vary. )

    “Pass enough laws and everyone becomes a criminal. Once this is accomplished, it’s only a matter of those in government picking and choosing what laws to enforce and whom to enforce them against.”
    Gw

    “A Right is defined as whatever government hasn’t yet passed a law making it illegal or unlawful to think, say or do.”
    Gw

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