Following Donald Trump’s statements that the August 26 shootings of a WDBJ-TV reporter and cameraman were indicative of mental problems rather than a gun problem, “68 percent” of likely voters told Rasmussen they agree with Trump’s assessment.
Breitbart News previously reported that Trump told CNN’s Chris Cuomo that he was “a very strong Second Amendment person” and stressed that guns were not to blame for the heinous attack. Rather, Trump said Virginia gunman Vester Lee Flanagan was a “a very sick man.” He added, “In the old days, they had mental institutions for people like [Flanagan] because he was really, definitely borderline and definitely would have been and should have been institutionalized.”
Trump argued that pursuing gun control in the wake of something like the Virginia shooting only makes it harder for “sane people” to get guns with which to protect themselves.
According to Rasmussen, “68 percent” of likely voters share Trump’s view of the shooting and nearly as many—two thirds of likely voters—have maintained this view since Adam Lanza stole guns and opened fire on innocents in Sandy Hook Elementary in December 2012. Those two thirds of likely voters have consistently said “the best way to prevent incidents like this is to focus more the mentally ill rather than on increased gun control.”
Even apart from any reference to Trump, “60 percent” of likely voters said more gun control is not the answer to violent attacks like the one in Virginia, while less than a third of likely voters— “29 percent”— “believe stricter gun control laws would have prevented the shooting deaths” of Alison Parker and Adam Ward.
Breitbart News previously reported that the White House admitted that gun control being pushed by Obama would not have prevented the shootings.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.