After the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, gun control activists and the liberal media thought they could finally turn gun control into a winning issue. Now, support for gun control is lower than it has been at any point in the last seven years.
Gallup began asking how people viewed “laws covering the sale of firearms” back in 1990. Only 52% of people think those laws should be stricter than they are now, which is the lowest Gallup has recorded since 2014. While that number seems high, it’s worth remembering that general support for gun control fades when specific measures are introduced and debated. Vague promises of gun control always poll far better than when they are put into legislation.
And that 52% is a steep drop from previous gun control polling. In 1990, Gallup found that 78% of people supported stricter gun control. In 2018, the same year as the Parkland shooting, Gallup found that 67% supported stricter gun control. Since then, support from independents has dropped from 64% in 2019 to 45% now.
There are plenty of factors that explain this. The first is Democratic overreach, as the media propped up vile partisan attacks from appointed Parkland children who compared GOP Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to the shooter and advocated for the Supreme Court to strip gun owners of their Second Amendment rights. Democratic media darling Beto O’Rourke is now running for governor of Texas while continuing to promise gun confiscation.
The lawless riots that followed the death of George Floyd also played a role. As Black Lives Matter protests devolved into rioting and looting in several cities across the country, Democratic mayors and governors pulled back and allowed it to happen. It was made clear that police officers would not be allowed to protect public safety as anti-police activists demanded they be forced to stand down and began pushing for police departments to be defunded, which Democrat-run cities were happy to oblige.
There is also the surge in crime. Following those riots, homicides surged across the country. Not only did that lead to veteran gun owners buying firearms and ammunition, but over 7.5 million people, including women and minorities, became first-time gun owners.
Given that gun ownership is one of the clearest indicators of partisan voting preferences, it’s likely that gun control will only become more unpopular in the coming years. Independents have already dropped below 50% support, and it won’t be surprising if that 52% number follows with three more years of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the helm.
