(GunReports.com) — There has been some good news related to guns lately, reports NRA-ILA.
Pro-Second Amendment Gov. Scott Walker’s 7-point victory in the recent recall elections in Wisconsin–a great victory for gun owners in its own right–calls into question Mr. Obama’s ability to win that state, which he carried by 13 percentage points in 2008.
The importance of NRA members in an election year was duly noted by President Bill Clinton after numerous U.S. Representatives who had voted for the Brady Bill and the now-defunct federal “assault weapon” ban were defeated in their 1994 reelection bids. It was cited as a factor that helped defeat anti-gun presidential candidates Al Gore and John Kerry in 2000 and 2004, respectively.
The good news is that we don’t have to do anything fundamentally new; we just have to keep doing it until the job is finished. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted before the NRA’s annual meeting in St. Louis this year found that we’re on the right course.
The poll found that the association is now viewed favorably by 68 percent of Americans, including majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents. Eighty-seven percent of respondents support the right to use force to defend yourself in your home, 75 percent support the availability of Right-to-Carry permits for law-abiding citizens, and 67 percent support the right to use force to defend yourself away from home.
The Pew Research Center reports that since 1993 the percentage of Americans that believes it is more important to protect the right to keep and bear arms, than to control guns, has risen from 34 percent to 48 percent.
Gallup reports that since 2000, the percentage of Americans that believes a gun in the home makes people safer has risen from 35 percent to 47 percent, and that the percentage of Americans that supports banning handguns has dropped from 60 percent to 26 percent.
