BELLEVUE, WA – A new NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist poll released Wednesday shows an “alarming disregard by Democrats for the Second Amendment,” the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said.
The poll, conducted May 15-18, revealed that “88 percent of Democrats think reining in gun violence is more important than protecting gun rights, while 67 percent of Republicans say protecting gun rights is more important,” according to a report in The Hill.
Troubling news indeed. An NPR/PBS state-affiliated media poll conducted by Marist shows sampled Democrats more than willing to trade their liberty for perceived security. Alan Gottlieb has this over at CCRKBA:
We’ll get back to Gottlieb’s press release, but first let’s look at some troubling findings from the Marist Poll. Keep in mind that half of the population is smarter than average. And conversely, half are, well, less gifted.
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60% of Americans, including four in ten who own guns, think it is more important to control gun violence than to protect gun rights (38%). Democrats (88%) overwhelmingly agree. 55% of independents say the same. While 67% of Republicans think it is more important to protect gun rights, 32% of the GOP say controlling gun violence should be the priority.
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More than one in four Americans (27%) say banning the sale of semi-automatic assault weapons would be the most impactful in reducing gun violence in the United States. 17% think mental health screenings for all gun buyers would make the most difference. Background checks for gun purchases at gun shows and other private sales (13%), red flag laws (12%), and allowing teachers to carry guns in the classroom (10%) follow. A notable 20% of Americans do not think any of these options would have an impact.
A quarter of people think banning the most popular and effective guns for self-defense would reduce gang violence the most in America? 17% think we should require mental health screenings?
What if we required mental health screenings before voting? Or going to church?
The good news is that 3/4 of Americans are wise enough to know that banning America’s favorite rifle will do nothing to stop bad people, including gang members, terrorists, criminals and other evil-doers from committing heinous acts.
Back to Gottlieb:
“This is a stunning revelation,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “While we have always advocated for safer communities and have supported citizen initiatives aimed at locking up criminals, it is appalling that such an overwhelming percentage of Democrats are so willing to throw the Second Amendment under a bus to achieve some false sense of security.”
More than 25 years ago, Gottlieb championed both “Three Strikes” and “Hard Time for Armed Crime” initiatives, which received massive public support in Washington State and then became popular nationwide.
“The idea of putting violent, repeat offenders in prison has always made more sense than penalizing law-abiding citizens who only want to exercise their constitutional rights,” he observed. “The notion that you are somehow going to discourage criminals by disarming their intended victims isn’t just foolish, it’s downright crazy.
“Constitutional rights are not something you vote on,” Gottlieb continued, “nor do you casually give them up in hopes of creating some Utopian fantasy. If criminals know people do not have the means to fight back, they will exploit the situation. That’s why we fight so hard, day after day, to protect the right that makes it possible for us to protect our families, homes and communities.”
Gottlieb said he is equally disappointed that many Independents and even some Republican poll respondents were also willing to prioritize controlling crime over protecting individual rights.
The founding fathers knew what they were doing regarding the 2nd Amendment. The interpretation of the entire constitution has been so twisted it’s shameful. People have forgotten or don’t understand. What the 2nd Amendment is really about. The restrictions ( akin to Marshall law) were exactly the sort of thing that the 2nd Amendment was in put in place to protect us against. Some people believe what we experienced during the COVID scamdemic. Was just a trial run. And some of us have our eyes open. And some don’t.
This was not a surprise to me. Democrats are full-blown Bolsheviks in 2023 – they bear no resemblance to what the party was as recently as the 1980s. The Constitution is reviled by them. They have been brainwashed by public schools for at least two generations that cradle to grave socialism is preferred, even if you must surrender all semblance of freedom and individually to obtain it. They have been taught to hate capitalism and to embrace the nanny state.
Ours will be the last generation to fight for its freedoms. The US will slip into a dystopian hellscape in the next 20 years or so as the rest of the Boomers and Gen-X generations die off. Gun-rights, like all other individual right, will disappear completely. I have no solution to offer, because I think we are already far too gone now.
It’s so easy on any given right leaning website to say Democrats don’t care about our rights, correctly so. However let us NOT forget HB2722 which gives the Illinois State Police even more money out of OUR pockets so they can violate OUR rights. Republicans are 100% behind this bill. They back the blue. NOT YOU! Additionally, just look at how may Republicans still believe in “election day” when the other party has election month. They always run behind the times. They don’t understand that if they want to win they have to play the game they are in, not the game they want to be in. So us voters must understand the situation we are in. Illinois is a given slam dunk for the Dems. So why not use that to our advantage and get Libertarians to primary challenge these Uniparty Republicans? If we were in a swing state where forced “vaccinations” vs. not forced it would be a different story. We have the luxury here of flushing the toilet herewhen it comes to the GOP. They need a makeover. And a tough political lesson.
I have given up on the whole concept of voting. When elections are no longer fair and free, they are not elections at all. Besides local, my vote means nothing in this dump because it is all rigged by Chicago. Now, they are rigging the state courts, just as they have the executive and legislative branches.
Republicans nationwide need a spinal implant.
Dems have become commies. And look at what a fine job they have done running Illinois… right into the toilet. I can’t wait to GTFO. 15ISH more years at most.