x-post.Support for gun control isn’t dead, new poll shows. It just matters how you frame...

[beevul]

x-post:

Support for gun control isn’t dead, new poll shows. It just matters how you frame the question

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/06/03/support-for-gun-control-isnt-dead-new-poll-shows-it-just-matters-how-you-frame-the-question/

An oft-cited proof of this new order is a Pew poll from December. That poll found that -- for the first time -- a majority of Americans favored gun rights (52 percent) over gun control (46 percent). As this Washington Post headline summed it up, “Two years later, Newtown has meant almost nothing to the gun debate.”
===
The Pew poll pitted gun rights vs. gun control, asking respondents which one they thought was more important.

Pick one.

The results appeared to show Americans have lost faith in gun control.

But drill down into specific policies, and you’ll find a broad base of support, Barry said.

The Hopkins 2015 study found large majorities favored gun regulations that are stronger than those currently seen in federal or most state laws.


The Pew poll showed the same thing, that when asked about specific policies there was broad support for stricter gun control, i.e. background checks, limit on magazine size, better reporting to the NICS etc.

The new poll shows strong support for those same policies even among the NRA membership. Only the banning of assault rifles (and other similar policies restricting types of weapons) got a pan from the NRA membership.

General Motors has a glitch in the ignition switch that killed a dozen people but 30,000 deaths by gun barely raises an eyebrow. Go figure.

2/3 of that 30,000 deaths are from people improperly using a mechanical switch which is not malfunctioning, to take their own lives. It raises eyebrows certainly. However, nobody seems to want to talk about it on those terms.

It seems most would rather just chant "gun deaths", as if they're all the same, have all the same causes, and therefore require the same solution. Doing such a thing, is a clear obvious and direct disservice to the issue and the people it effects. Period. It is reasonable to conclude that those folks care nothing about "gun deaths", and simply attempt to use them as a crude cudgel.

On edit: left out a paragraph inadvertently:

As far as the article, it appears to gloss over the fact that the poll in question was worded the same way for some 20? years. Only now when it reflects something they don't agree with, do claims of "problematic wording" begin.

Seems to me we've seen that before.

[Eleanors38]

1. Like vaudeville, gun control isn't dead. It just smells that way...

The "go figure" Washington Post has to really drill down to find support for its outlook. I don't see how informative this poll is no matter the results.

[sarisataka]

2. The tell here is that

Last edited Fri Jun 5, 2015, 04:20 PM - Edit history (1)

The question Pew used for 20+ years was fine... until Gun Control didn't like the answer; then it suddenly became "flawed".

The inference in obvious: gun control has a lot of support (even among gun owners). Gun Control however has an image problem and is not trusted.

As long as gun control is pushed by Gun Control it will go nowhere until either a- Gun Control acknowledges its problems and self-corrects (not likely with a megalomaniac at the helm) or b) gun owners throw their support behind gun control (not likely since every gun control action is touted by Gun Control as "a good start&quot .

[pablo_marmol]

4. "The tell here is that the question Pew used for 20+ years was fine......

........until Gun Control didn't like the answer; then it suddenly became "flawed".

We see this dynamic play out on a pretty regular basis. Pro-gun restriction "scientists" Phillip Cook and Jens Ludwig didn't have any problem with looking at survey data measuring defensive gun use as long as primitive surveys came up with low numbers. When more sophisticated surveys turned up high numbers -- INCLUDING THEIR OWN -- suddenly surveys became worthless generally for establishing the frequency of DGU's.

There's truly no depth to which The Controllers aren't willing to stoop.

[Eleanors38]

7. ^^^ Gun control advocates have essentially discredited themselves, and effectively left...

the role of legislative activity to 2A advocates, which might explain the occasional and hugely ironic complaint from controllers that Pro 2A folks should advocate for UBC or similar proposals! But no one can advocate for anything when a tide runs so high, and those wanting controls remain locked into a culture war narrative. As the political editor of the Austin Chronicle remarked upon the passage of OC in Texas, ( paraphrase) don't expect the " gun pushers'" successes to end until those "who say they care" about these issues "return" to the polls in sufficient numbers to make a change.

I think Michael King may have sensed the dilemma he and his fellow controllers face is really a question begged: When were there ever sufficient numbers on the question of gun control?

[GGJohn]

3. I would be very interested in knowing where this poll was conducted.

We all know that gun control is strongest in the urban cities and dramatically falls off in the rural areas.
I'll bet my pension that the majority was done in the urban cities to get the results they wanted.

[pablo_marmol]

5. Yup. See posts 2 & 4. NT

[pablo_marmol]

6. Oh FFS.........

"General Motors has a glitch in the ignition switch that killed a dozen people but 30,000 deaths by gun barely raises an eyebrow. Go figure."

A certain percentage of U.S. citizens are criminals, and behave as such. Go figure.

[benEzra]

8. This is the same tired meme that the Third Way/DLC have been pushing since the 1990s

and pushed REALLY hard 2000-2004. Remember Americans for Gun Safety, and the whole "gun owners will be fine with bans and restrictions on the law-abiding as long as we frame it as safety and not control?

How'd that turn out, again?