Pic Of The Moment: Poll: Public Overwhelmingly Supports Sensible Gun Control Measures

[EarlG]

Polls show strong support for new gun laws

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[Cetacea]

1. 80 percent are ignorant of violence in the mentally ill.

But we can thank our media for that number. Thank you, President Obama, for rightfully citing the fact that the mentally ill are far more likely to be VICTIMS of crime.

[Chorophyll]

4. +1

Yes. Glad as I am that we're finally moving forward on gun control, I'm very uneasy about all this focus on people with mental illness. It's not accurate and it seems calculated to shift focus from the real problem -- which is the GUNS.

[Cetacea]

6. I just heard a Dem on TV say we need to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill

I hear this over and over. Hardly anyone quotes the fact that they are no more violent than the rest of the population.

I guess it will be easier now to simply shoot the nuts, since none of them will be able to defend themselves against the sane.

[neffernin]

7. Maybe Mentally Ill isn't the right word that needs to be used

It should be those who need Mental Health support or something of that nature.... which is surprisingly much of the country. Instead of singling out the few who are actually ill, we should be concentrating on building a better support system for everyone in terms of mental health.

[Cetacea]

10. Agreed. Gun lovers will be afraid to seek help out of fear of failing BR checks.

Does "mentally ill" as used in the debate/law include people who want to see a therapist for depression or anxiety? Phobias? Anger issues?

[HuckleB]

14. Exactly.

[klook]

13. If the mentally ill were unable to own firearms,

my dear, sweet, mentally ill uncle might still be with us.

[AAO]

11. Everyone could be described as mentally ill

If you are well-adjusted to our society, you are mentally ill, because our society is mentally ill.

The people we need to watch out for is those that would never admit they have any problems.

[Cetacea]

25. During America's "Enlightenment" period (1960-1970s) many thought like that

and it's a good point. Now we tend to blame individual segments of society rather than look at the entire picture. Amurka is number 1!

[eqfan592]

2. Except there is nothing even remotely "sensible" about most of the measures listed here.

In fact, the level of nonsense increases dramatically as the support level drops (and 58% support a ban on all semi-automatic weapons? That alone spiked my bullshit-o-meter).

[samsingh]

3. so much for 1994 warnings

[thetonka]

5. It would be nice, and very helpful

if there was more of a conversation about firearm characteristics, including some consensus on terminology.

Most of what I have read makes it clear that a lot of people do not understand the terms "Assualt rifle", "Semi-automatic" and "High-capacity". If these terms are not better defined there will never be a common ground or consensus on gun control laws.

Every single hunter I know uses a semi-automatic rifle, and assuming "high-capacity" is anything over 6 rounds many have high capacity magazines.

In fact, while the caveat that these gun control laws are not going to infringe the right to bear arms the reality is the lack of understanding and consensus on terminology would mean this rifle will be illegal.

Ruger

How do the gun control supports expect to get enough support when they can't even have a conversation without confusing the .22 rifle above with this.

Colt

The reality of it is the gun nuts and anti-gun nuts are laughing at each other, and just making things difficult.

[baldguy]

15. Maybe this would matter

If gun nuts had spent any effort at all to reduce gun violence & it's causes, instead of doing everything they could to ensure the problems that cause gun violence are exasperated.

The trivial minutia of firearms design is infinity less important than one innocent life. Deal with it.

[thetonka]

30. The attitude is present and counterproductive on both sides

Your attitude in that posts is one of blaming the gun nuts and the guns. How does this help?

As long as both sides are yelling emotion and ideology based rhetoric at each other nothing will happen, nothing will improve, and tragically there will be more shootings and there will be more dead. As both sides continue to yell and scream about solutions they want, instead of solutions based in fact and reality, there is no conversation about real improvements, real solutions.

It's the state of the union, argument is more important than conversation, grandstanding is more important than solutions, ideology and platforms are more important than root cause analysis.

My problem with all this is the unbelievable time and resources wasted on the fighting that could be applied to real solutions that people can live with. It pisses me off when people find their ideology and platform more important than reality and solutions, regardless if it is a "no guns" or "guns for all" ideology or platform.

[baldguy]

32. No yelling & screaming from me. Just the simple truth.

While the Guns Over People party that you're shilling for yell & scream & whine & cry over any attempt at any level for any type of real, reasonable, rational gun con control.

You are on the wrong side of sanity, morality & history, my friend.

[thetonka]

33. You're just proving my point, thanks

[baldguy]

34. On your head.

Zippy.

[azureblue]

8. one new gun law

a practical exam - to get your permit,

you must tear down and reassemble your weapon.

you must demonstrate safe handling of the weapon during the test. that is, if you put your finger inside the trigger guard for any other reason but to fire it, you fail.

you must demonstrate marksmanship, proportional to the weapon you are getting a permit of. But this test will begin with (without a scope) hitting a target at 40 feet with a handgun, and 70 feet with a rifle,m with two shots. Two chance to hit it - miss you, you fail

[AlbertCat]

28. and...

....you must repeat this every 4 years.

[Thav]

9. Pfft, everyone knows that polls don't indicate what people want.

Polls don't mean a thing, they're just numbers. Duh.

[Smilo]

12. While I agree mental illness is a valid concern

I question:

How do you know someone has a mental illness?
What degree/type of mental illness will be acceptable/unacceptable?
What happens when a gun owner becomes mentally ill?

We can't have a knee jerk reaction to "oh those mentally ill" - can a psychiatrist call the police and say he owns a gun and is mentally ill, or does that go against dr-patient privilege? [They are able to call the police when there is evidence of a danger to self, or danger to others - just owning a gun doesn't mean that there is danger involved.]

Also, it is worrying that more people want to ban semi-automatic than assault style weapons - is it because they do not know the difference?

[Walk away]

26. Canada uses some interesting criteria. Even people going through a divorce...

have to wait for a time period before they can buy a gun. Imagine how many American woman are shot during the years after their divorce.
It's a gun. It's not a life support system. People can live without them...in fact...more people do.

[Smilo]

29. Interesting - thank you.

Though as to life support - I think for many its' a crutch because of their perceived inadequacies.

[arcane1]

17. You're cute when you're pretending your civil rights are being taken from you.

Ok, maybe not.

[Homerja111]

18. Who says I am making that argument?

My argument is that some find it ok to curtail certain rights if POLLS say its ok, while other polls dont mean squat to them.

[uppityperson]

19. I think you have it backwards. "Some" are posting polls that agree with what they think.

I don't see anyone here saying it is ok to curtail certain rights simply because polls say it is.

And about that "right to own whatever gun you want"? Tell me more.

[Scurrilous]

20. K & R

[valerief]

21. Why are these percents so LOW? nt

[Charles Goya]

22. I was surprise by the # of Republicans who favor banning semi-automatic weapons

49%.

The nuts that are saying Obama's positions will cause a civil war are contradicted by this poll, in which most moderate Republicans actually favor banning these weapons overwhelming, and even 40% of conservative Republicans favor it.

[GodlessBiker]

24. Very true, and welcome to DU!!

[wiggs]

23. The public option had the support of 71% of the public

until the gop and TP pissed all over public discourse, reason, and the public option.

If you poll Americans on the issues, dems almost always are correctly positioned to reflect public wishes and expectations. When politics, parties, talking points, propaganda enter into the discussion...voters are much more evenly divided on the issues.

[Fire Walk With Me]

27. One in four Americans suffer from some type and degree of "mental illness".

Nice broad brush strokes and ableism :/

[Comrade_McKenzie]

31. This is the way public policy should be shaped...

Even on issues with which I disagree.