Washington Post: Americans See Guns as the Solution, Not the Problem

On July 27 The Washington Post surveyed the political landscape post-Lafayette and said gun control is going nowhere–mainly because Americans do not want it. They want more guns instead.

For example, the WaPo reported that GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry reacted to the shooting in Lafayette’s Grand Theatre by highlighting the fact that movie-goers should be allowed to carry guns for self-defense. They pointed out that this is a “familiar theme from NRA head Wayne LaPierre, [who says,] ‘The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.'” The WaPo then indicated “that most Americans agree with this logic” and cited a PEW Poll showing the number of Americans who believed guns helped “protect people from becoming victims of crime” increased “9 percent” between the end of 2012 and the end of 2014.

The WaPo pointed out that those pushing for more gun control via background checks seize on mass shootings, and when news emerges that alleged attackers actually passed a background check–Dylann Roof (Charleston), Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez (Chattanooga), and John Russell Houser (Lafayette)–they augment their arguments to say “the system needs to be revamped and expanded.”

On the other hand, when the FBI admits Roof only passed a background check because of a clerical error on the part of an FBI background check examiner, gun rights supporters point out that the mistake on the part of an examiner is not the same thing as a “loophole” and does not require the passage of new gun control legislation.

The WaPo then makes clear that apart from the distinctions between gun rights groups and gun control groups, “Americans’ overall feelings on guns” simply make it evident that gun control has fallen out of favor with the American people. Therefore they write, “With every mass shooting, in fact, we seem to be embracing the idea of more guns rather than fewer.”

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.