A new Gallup poll released Wednesday shows that 83 percent of Americans blame mass shootings on a “failure in our mental health system.”
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After that? It’s not a lack of gun control.
No — according to Gallup, after mental health, most Americans believe the second-highest factor in inspiring mass shootings is “the spread of extremist viewpoints on the internet.”
After that, in third place, the survey revealed that “easy access to guns” was what most Americans blamed for these tragedies.
Yet this factor was only four points above “drug use” as a cause.
In other words, as those on the Left continue to try to turn the entire mass shooting narrative into a desperate need for increased pro-gun control, most Americans do not share their focus.
Americans Fault Mental Health System Most for Gun Violence – Gallup https://t.co/Ltr9PKYxXR
— Jack Posobiec ?? (@JackPosobiec) August 4, 2019
This poll emerges as Democrats, including the 2020 Democratic primary candidates, work overtime to try to prove who is the most willing to take away Second Amendment rights.
Everything from background checks to weapons bans is being proposed.
But if the Democrats’ entire solution is gun control and the American majority disagrees, are they really addressing the problem?
More importantly, looking ahead to the 2020 election, how does this play out for Democrats?
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It’s no surprise that 90 percent of Democrats told Gallup they blame mass shootings on “access to guns.”
If all political efforts are directed toward gun control, are we not increasing the chances of more shootings by ignoring the mental health issue?
There is no gun control proposal that is too extreme for Democrats, in our view. Former Texas Rep. and 2020 candidate Beto O’Rourke even said that if he’s elected president, he would institute a mandatory gun buyback program.
“This is a country that has produced the leadership that will ensure that we not only have universal background checks and red flag laws and end the sale of those weapons of war, but that we go the necessary steps further as politically difficult as they may be,” O’Rourke has been saying recently — as he said again during the Democratic debate in Houston on Thursday night.
“A gun registry in this country, licensing for every American who owns a firearm and every single one of those AR15s and AK47s will be bought back so they’re not on our streets, not in our homes, do not take the lives of our fellow Americans,” he said.
Beto O’Rourke Calls for a National Gun Registry Followed by a Mandatory Buyback pic.twitter.com/WTU4q6PVES
— ALX ?? (@alx) September 7, 2019
How this would work in a country with more guns than people without constitutional and civil liberties violations — that O’Rourke does not mention.
Expect Democrats to keep harping on gun control, with mental health taking a backseat in this race.
This piece originally appeared in The Political Insider and is used by permission.
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