WILL “PARKLAND SCHOOL EFFECT” FINALLY CHANGE THE NATION’S GUN LAWS?

….The AR 15 Rifle was used in the Aurora, Colorado, Sandy Hook and Parkland School shootings.

Will America’s millennials with their knowledge of social media help gain new gun laws?

Students across the country walked out of their schools last week in protest on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre.  The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll made it clear that the majority of support was for three specific and recently debated gun restrictions.  They included an assault-weapons ban, the raising of the age restriction on certain guns and “red-flag laws” that let police remove guns from people deemed dangerous.

The thing that’s different from a group of older adult protests is that these students, many of which were not born until after the Columbine shootings, they have had to grow up wondering if a crazy individual was going to attack at their school.  The young adults today not only had to deal with the school's fire drills, they also have had to have drills of "lock-downs" in case of a school shooter on their campus.  For these students, they had to drill as they left their lock-down rooms with their arms in the air to show they weren’t the armed assailant.

These high school students aren’t going to let this issue die, and many of today’s Juniors and Seniors will be voting in the 2018, or for sure in the 2020 election.  If you are a US Representative, and you are against supporting reasonable gun laws, you will probably be voted out of office by these young first voters.

There is a  57% majority of Americans saying that enacting new laws for reducing gun violence should be a priority.  That’s an increase from 46% who had said this in 2015 and 52% five months after the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Unfortunately, there are mixed signs about whether gun-control supporters will have the most sway at the ballot box.

Support for new gun laws has grown among all Democratic-leaning groups as well as swing-voters.  However, at the same time, many people who strongly prioritize new gun laws are not likely to even enter a voting booth in this November’s mid-term elections.  Only 58% of the American voting public will vote in the mid-term elections.

In addition, 41% of those who strongly prioritize new gun restriction laws and say they agree with a congressional candidate on gun policy and that it is “extremely important”.  A larger 50% of those who strongly prioritize all gun-rights laws also say the same, that for them it is “extremely important

A majority of Americans say that these students across the country that are holding rallies to call for stricter gun laws represent a serious lasting movement.  Only 43% say it is more of a one-time thing.  But these students are of a different breed.  These are the first of the millennials that will be of voting age and this gun issue is their passion.  We must all think back to when we were that young and on the verge of real adulthood.

Most of these young voters, or almost voters, have the time and the energy to become seriously involved in something that is their own.  These individuals are the first young adults that were raised with the knowledge of how to use Facebook, Snapchat and other social media, and they are already using it for their passions.

In addition, the poll shows broad agreement of two specific proposals discussed since the Parkland School shooting. An 85% majority of Americans supports a law allowing police to take guns from people who have been found by a judge to be a danger to themselves or others.  These are known as “red-flag laws” and they exist in five states, including California and Connecticut. A 72% majority of voting age Americans support raising the legal age to buy rifles and shotguns to 21 in all states.

Red-flag laws have the support of more than 8 in10 Democrats, Republicans and independents, including at least two-thirds who support them “strongly.” Raising the legal age for buying rifles and shotguns has support from 87% of Democrats, 70% of independents and 55% of Republicans.

Banning the sale of assault weapons wins support from 62% of all adults overall, but there are sharper divisions between partisans and households with and without guns at home.

Only 45% percent of Republicans support an assault weapons ban, compared with 59% of independents and 82% of Democrats.  More than three-quarters of those Americans without a gun at home, they support such a ban.  However, gun holding households are split 49% in support and 48% in opposition of any banning of assault weapons.

The poll shows that most Americans continue to say that Congress and President Trump are not doing enough to stop mass shootings. 

And those views have hardly changed from a Post-ABC poll immediately after the Parkland shooting.

The latest survey found that 59% said Trump was not doing enough to prevent mass shootings, roughly similar to 62% that said that in February. The share who say Trump is doing enough is up from 29% in February to 34% in April. However, 71% still say Congress is not doing enough, compared with 77% two months ago.

The rise in support for new gun legislation has grown in popularity in some swing voting groups including suburbanites and white women.

Support for prioritizing new gun laws is also up 16 percentage points among people ages 18 to 29.  That’s up 12 percentage points among seniors compared with April 2013, five months after the Sandy Hook shootings. It has also grown by 10 percentage points among people who live in the suburbs, 11 points among independents and eight points among Democrats.

The share of white women prioritizing new gun laws over gun rights has grown since 2013, from 50% to 62%. This view is also up 11 percentage points among women overall.

Among Republicans, a 58% majority prioritizes the protecting of gun rights over enacting new laws, that’s down from 71% in 2015.  (Why Republicans support more people carrying guns out in public is beyond me…..)

The Post-ABC poll was conducted between April 8 and April 11, and it was among a national sample of 1,002 random adults reached on cell and landline phones.

Overall results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5%.

The point is that it as has been the case for years, that most Americans do not want other Americans to be able to purchase assault rifles or fully automatic hand guns, machine guns or bazookas.  But the NRA and the gun manufacturers are running our government through their buying of our US politicians.

Perhaps the efforts of the Parkland School millennial students that is increasing across the country will eventually get our lawmakers to seriously consider adopting some common-sense gun legislation.  These young adults are serious about voting out all those politicians that do not support stronger gun laws.

Perhaps having government financed elections and not allowing any outside lobbying donations would be helpful….?

But then, I digress.

Copyright G.Ater  2018