The Democratic Party has claimed to be the party that reflects a majority of Americans’ views on social issues, and in many instances that is correct. When it comes to support for gay marriage, abortion, and marijuana legalization, Democratic candidates’ views are more on par with the public. But one issue, the issue of gun rights vs. gun control, has not always worked in the Democrats’ favor.
While Americans are becoming more liberal on many issues, they are becoming more conservative when it comes to gun control. Compared to views in 2008 and earlier, people are now more likely to believe that protecting the right of Americans to own guns is more important than controlling gun ownership. Even in the wake of mass shootings that have occurred over the past five years, a large majority of Americans believe owning a gun is more likely to protect people from being a victim of a crime than it is to put people’s safety at risk. Although there is certainly a partisan split with these numbers, there are plenty of Democrats and groups that vote Democrat who support gun rights and gun ownership.
These trends in American public opinion are not necessarily a reflection that people in the United States want zero restrictions on guns. In fact, an overwhelming number of Americans, both Republican and Democrat, want there to be background checks for private sales and for gun show sales, and the same goes for preventing people with mental illnesses and people on federal no-fly lists from owning guns. It is clear that almost all Americans want at least some form of gun control, but many do not want restrictions that in their view restrict their second amendment rights.
Americans may trust Democrats much more on policy when it comes to the environment, climate change, and civil rights, but when it comes to gun control, Republicans are trusted more. If Democrats were able to compromise more on the issue of gun control, they would appeal more to moderate, single-issue rural voters, especially in the South and the Midwest, who may have some liberal views but own guns and do not want to see them taken away or taxed more.
There are more guns than people in the United States. It is impossible for a buy-back program like the ones initiated in the United Kingdom and Australia to work in America. Places with some of the toughest gun laws end up being places with some of the highest levels of gun violence. Additionally, many statistics cited for mass shootings and gun deaths in general are misleading, as many gun deaths are suicides, and a situation in which a gun was fired at a school and no one was injured is not a mass shooting.
This is not to say that gun violence in America isn’t a huge issue, because it is. Gun violence in the United States is at astronomical levels compared to other developed countries, and the horrors and tragedies of mass shootings are immeasurable. But the solutions to these problems are much more complex than either major party’s platform makes them out to be. People who lawfully own and purchase guns are usually not the perpetrators of gun violence.
Democrats are not wrong to call for universal background checks and to demand that there need to be gun-free zones. However, to postulate that more gun control leads to less gun violence and to ban both concealed and open carry does more harm than good to their chances of winning elections and to nationwide efforts to curb the senseless violence caused by firearms.