Donald Trump has said he wants to make it easier for Americans to buy and carry a firearm. And the Republicans in Congress have repeatedly blocked all efforts to further restrict the access to guns. Both even oppose the most reasonable of proposals -- background checks on all gun buyers, which would keep terrorists, convicted criminals, and those with a dangerous mental illness from legally buying a gun.
They cite the Second Amendment as the reason they oppose the background checks. That is a disingenuous argument. The Supreme Court has already ruled that making gun buyers go through a background check does NOT violate the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
Also making their position nonsensical is the fact that the American public overwhelmingly supports closing the loopholes in the background check law (that allows about 40% of gun purchases to be made without a background check each year). Poll after poll has shown this, and now a new poll shows that is still true.
The new survey is from Public Policy Polling, and was done on December 6th and 7th of a random national sample of 1,224 registered voters (with a margin of error of 2.8 points).
That survey shows that 89% of the general public favors closing the loopholes in the federal background check law, while only a minuscule 8% opposes it. And that support crosses all gender, age, racial, and political lines (with the lowest support be among Republicans at still a healthy 79%).
This means there would be no political cost to voting for a better background check law. It would require no political courage -- only a bit of political decency. But don't expect to see it happen soon. The Republicans have sold out to the NRA leadership and the gun manufacturers, and they will continue to block common sense efforts to save American lives.
