In President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, he called for a ban on so-called “assault weapons,” claiming that the number of shootings goes down when gun control legislation is in place. In Biden’s remarks, he cited a recent shooting in Monterey Park, California, where 11 people were killed and nine people were injured.
Biden again proposes an “Assault Weapons Ban.”
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) February 8, 2023
The only problem is criminals don’t follow the law. A ban would ONLY disarm law-abiding Americans and make them prime targets for criminals and tyrants. #StateOfTheUnion pic.twitter.com/afW8ofRaY4
However, a poll conducted by ABC News and The Washington Post released on Monday shows that the majority of Americans do not support a national ban on “assault weapons.”
In the findings, only 47 percent of Americans supported such a ban. Fifty-one percent said they were opposed. This reflects a nine-point drop in support for this type of gun ban and a 10 point rise in opposition to it since the last ABC/Post poll, the write-up noted:
Support for an assault weapons ban was this low just once before, a 45-53 percent result in December 2015; that poll, and this one, are the only two in which more than 50 percent have opposed a ban. In most other polls since 1995, majorities have supported an assault weapons ban, peaking at 79 percent in May 1999. It was 62 percent as recently as April 2018.
The decline in support for an assault weapons ban since 2019 is broadly based across groups. It would take a study focused in more detail on the issue to assess its reasons, but other studies provide clues. In a Pew Research Center poll last year, the public divided on whether or not making it harder to get guns would reduce mass shootings. And in a Pew study only among parents of children under 18, fewer than half, 45 percent, thought an assault weapons ban would be extremely or very effective at preventing shootings in schools specifically.
A separate poll conducted by Quinnipiac University in July 2022 showed that 49 percent of Americans supported a nationwide ban on assault weapons, while 45 percent were opposed.
Last month, Democrat Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker” signed into law the “Protect Illinois Communities Act,” which banned “assault weapons” in the state in response to last year’s Highland Park shooting. After he signed the legislation, hundreds of Second Amendment supporters, including gun shop owners, filed a lawsuit to block it from taking effect, which Townhall covered. And, other lawsuits filed by gun ownership organizations began mounting up against the law, pointing out that it is unconstitutional. A judge put a temporary restraining order on the law, which an appeals court upheld.
This month, Canada withdrew proposed amendments to pending gun control legislation that would have banned specific types of rifles and shotguns after opponents of the law said it targeted hunters, farmers, and indigenous communities that hunt for food.
