A new Rasmussen survey released Tuesday says more American adults think government agencies failed in Florida more than the attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School happened due to weak gun laws.
According to Rasmussen Reports, 54 percent of American adults think the failure of government agencies to respond after the many reported red flag warnings is more to blame for the high school mayhem. Only 33 percent think the fault is with inadequate gun laws. Eleven percent think there is some other culprit.
But here’s a more startling survey statistic: “Among Americans who have children of elementary or secondary school age, 61% think the government is more to blame. Just 23% of these adults fault a lack of adequate gun control more,” Rasmussen said.
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Still, that hasn’t stopped some state lawmakers from pushing for additional gun control measures.
In Florida, legislators have been grappling with the Parkland shooting aftermath, but on Monday the House Appropriations Committee rejected a proposed ban on so-called “assault weapons” while voting along party lines to create a “school marshal program” for armed school staff, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
In Washington State, as reported earlier, the Senate Ways & Means Committee met Tuesday to consider a hastily-written “school safety” bill that also contained provisions for prohibiting people age 18-20 from buying semiautomatic rifles and shotguns with “tactical features.” One witness asserted the bill might not be allowable under the state constitution, which requires that legislation must deal with a single subject.
The Rasmussen survey also revealed that 90 percent of the respondents have been following the aftermath of the Florida shooting, and 53 percent have been “closely” following it.
However, Rasmussen recalled an earlier poll that revealed a majority of Americans are not convinced tighter gun laws will reduce violent crime and they don’t trust the government to enforce those laws.
Only 24 percent of Americans trust the government to enforce gun laws fairly while more than twice that number, 58 percent, do not trust the government to do a good job.
In a related development, an Ohio sheriff told Fox News that his department’s offer to provide a free concealed carry class for teachers has gotten a huge response. Within 20 minutes of making the announcement, he said 50 people had sent emails wanting information. This tends to belie claims by politicians and some school officials that teachers do not want to have guns in school.
