Poll Suggests Most Republicans Back ‘Assault Weapon Ban’

By Tom Knighton

Are the days numbered for the venerable AR-15?

While Democrats have long vilified the firearms as a major problem in the United States, Republicans have stood up for the Second Amendment. It’s why we haven’t had new gun control legislation passed at the federal level since 1994.

Even President Trump acknowledges that there’s little “political appetite” for gun control.

Yet new poll results seem to suggest otherwise.

Most Republicans would support legislation banning assault-style weapons, a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll found Wednesday — a finding that contradicts President Donald Trump’s claim earlier the same day that there’s “no political appetite” for such restrictions.

The poll found that nearly 70 percent of all voters would back such a ban. Support for an assault-weapons ban was higher, at 86 percent, among Democrats, who have been pushing for new restrictions on the firearms in the wake of two mass shootings over the weekend.

Republicans typically are more reticent to support new gun restrictions, and Trump campaigned in 2016 on his strong support for the Second Amendment. But the poll found that 55 percent of GOP voters were comfortable with banning assault weapons, and 54 percent said they would support stricter gun laws more generally. Ninety percent …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms