Gun Safety Has Broad Support Among Americans
As Gabby Giffords likes to say, gun safety laws are more popular than ice cream.
Giffords Praises President Biden for Taking Executive Action
Apr 07, 2021
Summer is almost here, which means ice cream season is right around the corner. And as Gabby Giffords likes to say, gun safety laws are more popular than ice cream in America. (Though ice cream is pretty hard to beat in the Biden White House.)
President Biden has already made gun safety a national priority—just like he promised he would on the campaign trail. In April, the president held a Rose Garden ceremony announcing five executive actions to save lives from gun violence.
Gun safety laws enjoy the support of Americans from all walks of life, including the majority of Democrats and Republicans, as well as gun owners and veterans. An April 2021 Quinnipiac poll found that 89% of Americans support background checks for all gun buyers and 74% support “red flag,” or extreme risk protection order laws, which allow a court to temporarily disarm someone who poses a demonstrated risk to themselves or others.
As a recent poll from ABC News-Washington Post notes, Americans “still prioritize enacting new laws over protecting gun ownership.” But polls can often obscure the true popularity of gun safety by using language like “gun control” that lends credence to the gun lobby’s narrative that the government wants to confiscate the guns of law-abiding gun owners.
86% of Floridians Support H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act
May 10, 2021
According to this poll, Americans are roughly split—32% each—on whether Biden is doing too much or too little to enact new gun laws. Twenty-eight percent say that he is doing the right amount, leaving 60% of Americans who approve of Biden’s gun safety efforts or would like to see him go even further. That’s a higher approval than Biden’s actions on most other issues polled such as immigration reform, corporate tax hikes, and infrastructure.
Years of research prove that when Americans are asked about specific, lifesaving solutions to gun violence, such as background checks, respondents overwhelmingly want elected officials to take action. Less than a month ago, a Morning Consult-Politico poll found that two in three Americans want stronger measures like universal background checks that the Senate could vote on at any time.
The gun safety laws passed by the House of Representatives and backed by the Biden administration are widely supported by Americans. Now it’s time to pass these laws in the Senate. If you agree, text “universal to 34131” to demand a vote on universal background checks in the Senate.