Support for the Second Amendment among Americans continues to rise

by Joe Eaton

A recently released Angus-Reid Public Opinion Poll show that "...most people in the United States agree on the meaning of the Second Amendment, and half endorse the 'shall-issue' prerogative to carry concealed weapons in public."

This most recent poll (taken January 17 - January 18, 2012) show that support for legal firearm ownership continues to grow. Fully 85% of Americans believe that individuals have the right to keep and bear arms. This belief matches the United States Supreme Court finding in the D.C. vs. Heller case from 2008.

Also, now more than half of the United States are supporting concealed carry. "51% support the idea of allowing citizens to carry a concealed weapon..." This is an increase of 4% from one year ago. This number is sure to rise as the final states enact CCW laws and as national concealed carry continues to move in congress. This is certainly good news as it indicates that Americans have moved past most of the lies and distortions that the anti-gun rights groups have been spreading for decades. This is the direct result of gun rights supporters becoming more engaged and actively refuting the falsehoods of the anti-gun side.

The report does point out one area where we should continue to focus our efforts:

"61% believe only the police and other authorized persons should have access to semi-automatic weapons." With 51% supporting "shall-issue" concealed carry, this tells me that we need to continue our work to educate the public on what a 'semi-automatic' firearms actually is and what is does and does not do. During the 1990's, the anti-gun side was very effective at demonizing a large class of firearms through the entire 'assault-weapons' campaign and we are still fighting this falsehood today. Even more troubling, this misconception still exists in many parts of the shooting community as well.

Let's start today to make certain that Angus-Reid's 2013 survey shows this trend continuing. We have a specific item we can focus on, so let's all continue our work to educate supporters and non-supporters alike on the truths about lawful firearm use.

The entire analysis of this poll can be found online here: 2012.01.25_Guns_USA.pdf

Joe Eaton is the Buckeye Firearms Association Southwest Ohio Region Leader.