In new polling made available by Fox News, a full 87 percent of respondents supported the idea of implementing universal background checks for gun sales.
Some states — including Michigan, which recently joined the list — have moved to implement their own rules demanding such universal checks, but other locales led by Republicans, like Florida, Texas, and Georgia, have moved the other direction, at least at some stops of what could be termed the life cycle of a gun. These other officials have sought to allow concealed carry without a permit, eliminating opportunities for authorities’ oversight.
Another potential measure often discussed in conversations around gun control is the possibility of banning assault rifles, which Washington state recently did under the leadership of Democrats in the legislature and Governor Jay Inslee. The rules there, which were designed to cover both specific models of guns and firearms with particular features that could place them into the same category, ban selling and importing such guns, among other prohibitions. Legal challenges predictably emerged rather quickly over the Washington rules, but the state attorney general expressed straightforward confidence in the prospects for the measures to survive court disputes. In the Fox polling, 61 percent of respondents supported banning assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons, as the outlet described the category.
Rules like the Washington restrictions don’t even mandate anything like government seizures of everybody’s guns in circumstances where the targeted firearms are already owned. Such individuals can instead keep their guns, so long as they are compliant with any relevant additional regulations. On multiple measures, Republicans are just out of touch, as the saying goes, with everyday Americans, suggesting that no matter any expressed hopes from Trump and the party, there just won’t be some kind of “red wave” in 2024!
