New USAToday Poll Shows More Republicans Support Stricter Gun Laws After Uvalde Massacre


It’s a surprising statistic: half of Republicans support stricter gun laws according to a new exclusive USA TODAY/Ipsos, marking a double-digit increase after a series of horrific mass shootings at schools, stores, streets, and churches has left the country shaken, scared, and angry.
The GOP support increased from 35% last year to 50%, which could help boost the prospects for Congress to tighten federal gun laws, an effort that has failed for decades.
In the survey, Americans by nearly 7-1 back more restrictions on guns, 69%-10%, a level of support that has been roughly steady in Ipsos’ surveys over the past five years. Republicans are more likely to blame “loose gun laws” for mass shootings in the USA: 43% in the new poll, compared with 27% a year ago.
Son of Buffalo shooting victim asks Senate: "Is there nothing that you personally are willing to do to stop the cancer of white supremacy and the domestic terrorism it inspires? Because if there is nothing, then…you should yield your positions." pic.twitter.com/Yv9cPfEkAt
— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) June 7, 2022
Perhaps those same Republicans were paying attention on Wednesday, when Congress heard from the survivors of recent gun violence and their families. Miah Cerrillo, the fourth-grader from Uvalde, Texas, who survived that massacre by smearing her dead classmate’s blood on herself to appear dead. “I just don’t want this to happen again,” Miah said during her heartwrenching virtual testimony.
Miah Cerrillo, Robb Elementary fourth grader who survived Uvalde school shooting, testifies before Congress in prerecorded video:
"[He] shot my teacher and told my teacher 'goodnight' … He shot my friend that was next to me … I grabbed her blood and I put it all over me." pic.twitter.com/Df8EkAAELO
— The Recount (@therecount) June 8, 2022
Congress also heard powerful and often blunt testimony from the family members of the victims of the Tops Friendly Market shooting in Buffalo, which preceded the Uvalde massacre by ten days.
The USAToday survey was taken over the worst weekend for mass shootings in the United States yet this year. From Friday through Sunday, at least 17 people were killed in mass shootings, according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive and analyzed by USA TODAY. There were at least a dozen shootings that killed or injured four or more people.
“For all the billions and trillions that this body authorizes in the name of National Security, we can’t even keep our kids safe from their schools being turned into a war zone.”
Following testimony from victims of the Buffalo & Uvalde shootings, Rep. AOC spoke on gun reform ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/f5pmY8Hbqt
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) June 8, 2022
The House is set to vote on a Democratic package of proposals this week amid bipartisan negotiations, which appears to have led to a narrower compromise, although talks will continue behind closed doors in the Senate.
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