The November Daily Kos/Civiqs poll has just come out, covering a wide range of topics. But, with another school shooting breaking as this diary is being written, the question over the next 24 hours will be—why won’t the Republican Senate act on any meaningful gun safety legislation? It’s something of a rhetorical question because the answer, as the polling shows, is that gun lobbyists control Republican elected officials. When asked, “Do you support or oppose federal criminal background checks on all gun sales?” 71% of Republicans and 78% of Independents responded in the affirmative, and including Democrats and “others,” 83% of everyone asked supported this very basic background check.
Going into the numbers gives us some more places to theorize on what is happening here. Women, slightly more than men, supported the need for background checks, and white people supported this need slightly less than everyone else. But, in general, those numbers are all overwhelming in support.
Campaign Action
Republicans had the highest, by far, percentage of “unsure,” responses with 9%. This seems to me to be indicative of the conservative movement in general, and why Republicans and special interest groups have been effective in using specious "slippery slope," arguments for why we shouldn't have laws that they don't want. The argument, in general, goes something like: If we make this law before you “no,” all of your rights will be taken away. The other version is: If we give this group of people human rights, next thing you know your child will be marrying a dog and cats will be administering your social security checks.
Of course, there are still big differences between conservatives and liberals and while there is still a plurality of support for banning the sales of assault weapons and semi-automatic—49% support, 44% oppose, 7% unsure, with the majority opposed being Republicans—we are far from a consensus on that front. There is an argument that conservatives only hunker down when more left-leaning elements in society become more forceful and demanding of gun safety legislation, but considering how nothing has been done for the last few decades, that argument doesn’t feel like it holds much water.
It’s easy to say something has got to give, but so much has been taken from people as the result of gun violence in our country, it is hard to believe that platitude at this point. A cultural shift in our country, hundreds of years coming, needs to take place. Our country’s sins of slavery and genocide of Native American peoples is tied up with our reliance and wicked use of guns and gun violence.