New Poll: Washington State Voters Overwhelmingly Demand Gun Safety Laws
The people have spoken. Now it’s up to our elected officials to make it happen.
In the aftermath of the Las Vegas massacre, every American understood that something had to change. We all felt it. The day after more than 500 concertgoers were killed and wounded by one man, we realized that the horror of mass shootings was a problem unique to the United States. We understood that gun violence would not go away on its own.
For a brief moment, it seemed that even the National Rifle Association was willing to allow a bump stock ban to pass without a fight. But after a few days, the possibility of inaction crept back in. The NRA—and the army of politicians who accept money from the NRA—have reclaimed their usual shameless fervor.
But while Republican leaders like Paul Ryan determined enough time has passed that they can safely slide back into their laissez faire pre-Vegas positions on guns, a new poll proves something remarkable has happened: Washington voters have decided that when it comes to gun violence, enough is enough. They demand saner gun safety laws, and they expect their politicians to act.
We have the numbers to prove it. A new poll of 500 likely Washington state voters from EMC Research conducted from October 9th to October 14th shows that the people are fed up with inaction from their elected leaders.
This is not a divisive issue; the results are overwhelming. Seven out of ten Washingtonians agree with the statement that “our elected officials need to do more to prevent gun violence.” And they’re not just looking for someone to offer up thoughts and prayers in a pretty speech. The people want specific action.
Supermajorities of voters support the following policies:
- 87 percent of Washington voters want to require buyers to go through gun safety training before purchasing a firearm.
- Nearly eight out of ten voters—79 percent—want to ban bump stocks.
- A full three-quarters of all voters want anyone in Washington state who uses or buys a gun to have a firearm license.
- And sixty-five percent of all voters want “laws that heavily restrict access to semi-automatic firearms.”
This is not a partisan issue. More than 62 percent of Republican likely voters support the safety training, the bump stock ban, and the firearm licensing. Half of Republicans polled support semi-automatic restrictions.
Republican politicians running in swing districts should pay close attention to this poll: when you drill down into the results from swing districts, you find even more broad support for commonsense gun legislation. Just shy of 9 out of 10 voters in swing districts want mandatory gun safety training, and every other of the four policies mentioned above poll higher in swing districts than elsewhere in the state.
Our leaders can ignore these numbers at their peril. The American electorate is ordinarily divided roughly down the middle on most policies; the kind of majorities found in this poll are unheard of in modern politics. And these results can only be interpreted one way: if the politicians in power aren’t willing to do their part to end gun violence in Washington state, voters will choose someone else to do the job. And if no politician proves to be brave enough to take a stand? The people will do the work themselves, by initiative.
The voters of Washington state have spoken loud and clear. They’re sick of doing nothing after every mass shooting. It’s time to follow the will of the people and establish a sensible, sane set of laws to promote a culture of gun responsibility. If our leaders choose not to lead, the people will take action themselves.
