Mass Shootings ‘Part of a Free Society,’ Nearly a Quarter of Americans Say in Poll

A new poll from CBS News and YouGov suggests that the vast majority of Americans think that America could solve the problem of gun violence in the country if we tried but don’t trust either major political party to do so.The poll found that 76 percent of respondents believe that mass shootings are a problem that “we can prevent and stop if we really tried,” while 24 percent believe that such incidents are “unfortunately something we have to accept as part of a free society.”The poll comes weeks after a mass shooting at The Covenant School of Nashville, Tennessee, and a day after a shooting at an Alabama birthday party, an event that spurred comment from President Biden.“What has our nation come to when children cannot attend a birthday party without fear? When parents have to worry about their children every time they walk out the door?” Mr. Biden said in a tweet Monday.The president went on to call on lawmakers to take action on the issue, adding, “I stand ready to work across the aisle in good faith on federal legislation that will save lives.“It’s within Congress’ power to require safe storage and universal background checks, and ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” Mr. Biden said.The poll found that most Americans, or 62 percent, favor a ban on AR-15 style rifles, compared to 38 percent who oppose such a ban. Once political parties become involved, though, consensus on gun issues among Americans falls apart.The poll asked whether Democratic or Republican party policies on guns made people safer or put more people at risk from gun violence, and the results didn’t look good for either side.Overall, 37 percent of respondents said the Democratic Party’s gun policies “make people safer from gun violence” and 38 percent said they “put people more at risk from gun violence.”For the Republicans, 34 percent said their policies “make people safer from gun violence” and 41 percent said they “put people more at risk from gun violence.”Twenty-five percent of Americans said that neither party’s policies would “have any impact.” This number reflected the percentage of respondents who said gun violence would not be affected by increasing or reducing the number of people with guns, which was 26 percent.Among the poll’s respondents, 88 percent reported feeling that gun violence was either very or somewhat important, putting the issue alongside inflation, the economy, and health care as among the most important to Americans.Among parents, concern was even more pronounced, with 38 percent saying they were very concerned about gun violence at their children’s schools and 39 percent saying they were “somewhat concerned.”Changes in gun policy at the federal level are unlikely at the moment, with Republicans in control of the House and Democrats the majority in the Senate.

Mass Shootings ‘Part of a Free Society,’ Nearly a Quarter of Americans Say in Poll

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