A new Rasmussen survey released Friday reveals that 59 percent of American adults support a proposal to “speed up the death penalty process” for those found guilty of mass shootings.
Only 21 percent oppose the idea, and an equal number of survey respondents are undecided, Rasmussen said.
This comes just days after Fox News reported that the White House had “drafted legislation with the Justice Department that would expedite the death penalty for people found guilty of committing mass shootings.”
Buried in the Rasmussen Report about this new poll was a more revealing statistic related to public sentiment about gun control. According to Rasmussen, 70 percent of Americans agree with President Donald Trump’s assessment that, “It’s not the gun that pulls the trigger; it’s the person that pulls the trigger.”
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However, when Rasmussen took the survey about that statement, pollsters did not identify Trump as the source of that quote.
Rasmussen also noted that 57 percent of Americans “believe stricter enforcement of existing gun control laws is more important than putting new gun control laws on the books,” while 35 percent “think the emphasis should be on new gun control laws.”
Clearly, the public mood is shifting toward holding perpetrators of mass shootings responsible for their crimes, while not spreading the blame or responsibility to the entire shooting community.
In many, if not most mass shooting cases, however, speeding up the death penalty isn’t part of the equation because the perpetrators are either killed or they take their own lives.
According to Fox News, word on the capital punishment effort came from Marc Short, chief of staff for Vice President Mike Pence, who spoke to reporters aboard Air Force Two. The administration will send a “gun control package” to Congress when it returns to work on Monday.
Fox News reported that Attorney General William Barr had been “involved in active discussions with the vice president’s office.”
In three of four recent mass shootings, the killers either died by police gunfire or committed suicide. Only the alleged suspect in the El Paso Walmart shooting was taken into custody.
Meanwhile, Rasmussen also noted Friday there is “general agreement… that media coverage of mass murders inspires other people to commit violent acts.”
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