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Politics

More Americans Blame Mass Shootings on Mental Health than on Gun Laws, Says Poll

February 23, 2018 - 11:45am
Nikolas Cruz in court
Nikolas Cruz in court

Far more Americans blame mass shootings on inadequate mental health care than blame them on lax gun laws, according to a poll out this week from ABC News  and the Washington Post.

Banning assault weapons -- the alleged shooter in Parkland wielded a semiautomatic AR-15-style rifle -- remains more divisive, with 50 percent in support, 46 percent opposed. That’s almost identical to a 51-48 percent division in June 2016, after a gunman killed 49 at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Results have ranged over time from a high of 80 percent support for an assault weapons ban in mid-1994 and a recent high of 58 percent in January 2013, to a low of 45 percent in late 2015.

In this poll, conducted in the wake of last week’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, respondents were asked if “this event could or could not have been prevented by” more effective mental health screening or treatment; stricter gun control laws; and allowing teachers to carry guns. Fifty-eight percent of the 808 respondents said stricter gun laws could have prevented the shooting, but a larger portion, 77 percent, said better mental health monitoring and treatment would have averted it.

The poll did find that attitudes have shifted slightly in the past couple years. As compared to results from a 2015 ABC and Post survey, slightly fewer blame mental health screening, and slightly more blame the lack of adequate gun control laws.

See the poll by clicking here

The idea that teachers could be trained to carry guns, validated by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos as a legitimate “opportunity” and “option,” was less popular. Forty-two percent said arming teachers could have prevented the shooting.

Opinions on banning assault weapons are marked by especially sharp differences among groups, the poll says. Fifty-five percent of women support a ban, compared with 43 percent of men. It reflects a big gap between white women (60 percent support) and white men (39 percent); there’s no such gender gap among nonwhites. The gap widens further comparing support for an assault weapons ban among college-educated white women (65 percent) vs. non-college white men (36 percent).

According to the poll, support for banning assault weapons soars to 66 percent in the Northeast, vs. the mid-40s elsewhere. It’s somewhat higher in big cities and suburbs than in rural areas and small cities, 51 percent vs. 43 percent. And it’s a hugely political and ideological issue; 74 percent of liberals and 71 percent of Democrats support a ban, vs. support in the mid-40s among moderates and independents, dropping to about three in 10 conservatives and Republicans. At the widest gap, support ranges from 83 percent among liberal Democrats to 26 percent among conservative
Republicans.

The Trump administration generally falls in line with the public on the matter of mental health versus gun control. In the responding to the tragedy, Trump spoke almost exclusively of mental health (and the failure of the FBI), and Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced he would put together a committee to study “the intersection of mental health and criminality and violence.”

A large majority of Americans already are angry about politicians’ skirting responsibility, however. Seventy-seven percent said in the poll that Congress is not doing enough to address school shootings; 62 percent blamed Trump.

Any legislative or policy response to the Florida school shooting is expected to be limited on a federal level. Neither Trump nor Republican leaders in Congress have, for instance, shown support for proposals to restrict sales of military-style assault rifles. President Barack Obama and Democratic congressional leaders pushed a similar proposal in 2013 but it failed to advance through Congress following the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.


READ MORE FROM SUNSHINE STATE NEWS

Armed School Resource Officer Waited Outside While 17 Students Were Gunned Down

Backroom Briefing: Tuning Out the Naysayers

Comments

Correct! Address mental Illness and do not let guns in the hands of those with mental illness.

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