Rather than enact a series of new gun control laws in an effort to prevent gun-related crime, a majority of American voters says the better approach is to enforce existing gun laws, according to a new national survey conducted for the Second Amendment Foundation by McLaughlin & Associates.
According to Alan Gottlieb, SAF founder and executive vice president, this was just one revelation of the six-specific question survey on gun control versus gun rights that was conducted by McLaughlin April 8-13 with 1,000 voters. It has a +/- 3.1 1 percentage point sampling error with a 95% level of confidence, according to pollster Jim McLaughlin.
Read the SAF news release here.
Asked whether the U.S. needs stricter gun laws or better enforcement of current laws, 55.5 percent of survey respondents say existing gun control laws should be enforced, while 36.1 percent thinks new restrictions should be adopted.
Likewise, the McLaughlin survey asked survey participants whether they agree with one of the two following statements:
- “It has been estimated we already have over 20,000 gun control laws on the books across the country. Major cities like Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago and Baltimore have some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, yet they have the highest rates of gun crimes, so the politicians and law enforcement should concentrate more on enforcing current gun laws, keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill, instead of enacting more gun control laws on law abiding Americans.”
- “The best way to stop the scourge of gun violence and mass shootings is to enact more gun control laws. Gun crimes are out of control across the country and the best way to fight gun violence is to make guns less available to the general public because there are just too many guns out there. Countries like Canada and England have enacted stricter gun control laws and they have significantly less gun violence in those countries than we have here in the United States.”
The majority (55.5%) of respondents said existing gun laws should be enforced while 36.1 percent say enacting more gun controls is the answer.
Then the survey asked, “Does the United States need stricter gun control laws or better enforcement of current gun control laws that are already on the books?’
Again, a majority of survey participants (52.2%) said there needs to be better enforcement of existing gun laws, while 40.4 percent want stricter laws.
But then came a question about whether gun control might have prevented recent mass shootings in Colorado or Georgia. More respondents (44.9%) said more gun control laws would not have stopped those tragedies, while 37.6 percent believe more laws would have stopped the incidents.
The full survey results may be read here.
———————————————————
If you haven’t checked out and liked our Facebook page, please go here and do so. You can also follow us on Twitter at @co_firing_line and be sure to check out our MeWe page here and our new PatrioticSpace group here.
If you appreciate independent conservative reports like this, please go here and support us on Patreon.
And while you’re at it, be sure to check out our friends at Whatfinger News, the Internet’s conservative front-page founded by ex-military!
