A Record High Percentage In U.S. Say Guns Make Homes Safer

After Washington state voters passed an initiative imposing
background checks on people willing to subject even their private
and largely untraceable transaction to goverment scrutiny,
opponents of self-defense rights proclaimed that they’ve
found a new path into the future. Hayley Zachary, the executive
director of of Americans for Responsible Solutions, announced that
the voters of Washington “did what our country’s leaders in
Washington, D.C. have not had the courage to do.”

Nevermind that Alabama voters went the other way, and
amended their state constitution to shield gun rights from easy
restriction. That, apparently, isn’t a courageous voter move at
all.

But the brave new world of voter-empowered gun control faces
another hurdle that reaches beyond the boundaries of the Cotton
State. It turns out that growing numbers of Americans believe
having guns in their homes makes them safer, while declining
numbers consider the practice dangerous. The cultural shift has
been ongoing for years, and across partisan divides.

In 2014,
reports Gallup, 63 percent of Americans consider having guns at
home to make them safer, compared to 35 percent in 2000. Only 30
percent say that makes their homes more dangerous, down from 51
percent in 2000. Republicans have seen the greatest increase in
support for the idea that guns make you safer, from 44 percent to
81 percent. But Independents increased their support for that idea
from 35 percent to 64 percent. Democratic support rose from 28
percent to 41 percent.

Gun controllers may win an occasional ballot box victory
imposing some restrictions on gun ownership, but Americans’
opinions of what constitute “responsible solutions” when it comes
to firearms aren’t moving in their direction.