Gun control versus the truth

Morgan Whitaker,  at MSNBC ,  makes his argument for gun control laws.  His comments are as follows,  mine are emboldend. 

“They call me crazy, yet the people doing the finger pointing are doing things that are absolutely bizarre,” Wayne LaPierre said, adding, ”It’s time to take a look at the insanity that’s consumed the media and too many in this town.”

[Most NRA members approve of universal background checks;  very few support universal gun registration and that is where Whitacker goes with this argument  -  from background checks to universal registration ]

Of course we have learned that majority of the NRA’s 5 million members don’t agree with LaPierre, who argued that no new laws should be pursued to address gun violence, beyond arming teachers. A recent Johns Hopkins University survey shows 75% of self-identified NRA members support universal background check laws, a policy LaPierre opposes.

Editor’s note:  apparently Mr. Whitaker is not aware of the fact that a background check was done on the murderer at Sandy Hook.  He was rejected.  That is a fact. 

He also claimed that “the vast majority of Americans” favor trained armed police and security officers in every school. Apparently LaPierre’s definition of “vast majority” is a two point margin, because an ABC News/Washington Post poll asked this question in the last week and found only 50% of Americans agreed with LaPierre, compared to 48% who disagreed. Moreover, support for that idea has declined in since the question was asked in January, only a few weeks after the Newtown school shooting.

Gallup, in a December poll,  shows that 87% of Americans believe that increases police presence  -  i.e. " armed police and security officers in every school . ." - on our school campuses  would be “somewhat effective (34%) to very effective (54%).  Keep in mind that this poll is just 14 weeks old. 

PEWResearch,  while allowing for a change in the trend,  shows and a very close divided between  public opinion for and against more gun control laws  

  

As you can see,  the recent upsurge in popular opinion for gun control is in a larger context of declining popular opinion. The recent trends are evidence of the effectiveness of the media in shaping public opinion more than anything else  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Of course,  the current trend is for more controls.  Anytime the media takes up a “cause,”  trend lines increase for that cause.  Heck,  our Socialist,  anti-colonial media, for the past four years,  has been touting the "irrelevancy"  of the US Constitution,  upon which all American law is based,  and,  shazam !!!,  more people today, believe that we should simply ignore the Constitution than ever before  --  you know,  like Obama does nearly every day of the year. 

LaPierre wasn’t only confused about how Americans and his own organizations members feel about the issues. He also claimed that gun ownership is at an all-time high in America, despite a report released just this week that shows gun ownership has declined in the last four years.

Indeed,  individual gun ownership is down,  but, still,  80 million Americans own 300 million guns.