By the Numbers
Poll Questions Distort Support for Guns
T
he inexplicable mas- sacre of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook
By Kellyanne Conway
Elementary School in New- town, Conn., left a grieving na- tion in shock and searching for answers that it may never fi nd. When emotions are that raw, Americans demand immediate action. The more helpless we feel, the swifter the solution we seek. In this case, that led to immediate calls for gun
control. Some attention was paid to the fact that the shooter was mentally disturbed, reportedly played violent video games alone in his basement nearly around the clock, and used fi rearms legally possessed by his mother to murder two dozen people, includ- ing his mother. But the loudest call was to remove certain types of fi rearms at once. President Barack
Kellyanne Conway is president and CEO of the polling company inc. / WomanTrend and a television commentator.
Obama, who never showed in- terest in resurrecting the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, and who off ered comfort and speeches but no action fol- lowing earlier mass shootings by other disturbed young men, one incident close to Tuscon, Ariz., in 2011, and the other in Aurora, Colo., in 2012, now took on the
NRA, fi rearms, the Second Amendment — and by extension, the more than 200 million legally-owned guns in the hands of private U.S. citizens. For decades, gun control has off ered a casebook
study in how public-opinion responses vary depend- ing on how a question is worded. On the surface, it may seem like there is huge pub-
lic support for major restriction on a citizen’s right to bear arms. That is because most published polling
Public Squares Off on Guns Are conservatives losing the gun-control debate? Polls suggest public support for gun restrictions may
be fading fast. “Would you generally favor or oppose each of the following proposals which some people have made to reduce the amount of gun violence?” [CNN/Time/ORC Poll]
Requiring Gun Registration
August 2012 Two weeks after mass shooting at Aurora, Colo., movie theater.
December 2012 Three days after mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
January 2013 One month after Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.
56 NEWSMAX | MARCH 2013 For Against
57% 42% For Against
62% 37% For Against
56% 44%
Assault Gun Ban
For Against
60% 40% For Against
62% 37% For Against
58% 41%
High-Capacity Magazine Ban
For Against
76% 23% For Against
78% 22% For Against
69% 31%
AURORA, NEWTOWN/AP IMAGES
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