Assault Weapon Ban Both Alive and Dead
It would seem that the worm has turned:
Poll: Broad Support For New Gun Restrictions After Newtown
On the issue of assault weapons, 58 percent of respondents said they supported a ban while 39 percent opposed one.
A full 88 percent of respondents favored requiring background checks at gun shows, a current loophole that allows people to buy guns without a check, while just 11 percent were against the idea. Respondents also favored background checks for buying fun ammunition 76 percent to 22 percent.
Overall, 52 percent said the Newtown shootings made them more supportive of gun laws while just 5 percent said they were now less likely to support new laws. Fifty-five percent said they would support a law that put an armed guard in every school, however.
Pew: Majority Support For Bans On Assault Weapons, High-Capacity Clips
The poll showed 55 percent support an assault weapons ban, while 54 percent favor a prohibition on high-capacity clips. Support is even wider for other proposals, such as background checks for private and gun show sales (85 percent), a federal database to track gun sales (67 percent) and a ban on semi-automatic weapons (58 percent).
But Pew also showed strong support for a proposal from the National Rifle Association that drew the ire of many gun control advocates. According to Monday’s poll, 64 percent of Americans support putting armed officers in schools — a sharp contrast to the findings of a survey last week from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling.
Meanwhile, Harry Reid pretty much spells out what most people already know, namely that the House Republicans are ready to kill any bill, no matter public support for it:
Harry Reid: The Assault Weapons Ban Is Probably Doomed
The Democratically-controlled U.S. Senate will not be a free-for-all of new gun regulations following the shooting at Sandy Hook, according to Majority Leader Harry Reid. Instead, Senators will focus on passing legislation that can move through the Republican-controlled House, Reid said.
That could spell doom for an assault weapons ban. Speaking on Nevada Week In Review, a news show on the PBS affiliate in Las Vegas, Reid said there’s no real chance of a new ban passing the House.
‘Is it something that can pass the Senate? Maybe. Is it something that can pass the House? I doubt it,’ he said in video of the program provided to TPM by Vegas PBS. ‘So I think there are things that we know we can do.’
Sen. Reid, if you’re going to focus only on legislation that can pass the House, then you might as well go on vacation for the next two years.