Guns, Polls, and Democracy

Guns, Polls, and Democracy has a simple thesis: Supermajorities of Americans should usually be able to get the laws they want. But when the problem is gun violence, that isn't the case.

Our gun violence problem is staggering: Firearm fatalities claim almost 40,000 lives in the United States each year. Active shooters garner the most attention, but firearm suicides take the largest toll. Domestic violence brings the problem home. There are also "road rage" and "retail rage' shootings. And cop killings. And on and on.

Americans recoil from the violence. Although deeply divided on the rhetoric of guns and gun violence, polls consistently show that most Americans actually agree on a broad range of specific policy proposals.

This well-researched book carefully explains each of those proposals—including universal background checks, "red flag" laws, closing the "boyfriend" loophole, and a dozen more.

But Guns, Polls, and Democracy is more than a solid introduction to the gun policy debate. It collects polling data to assess which proposals Americans support and which they don't. It also breaks out which proposals Republicans, Trump voters, and gun owners support and which they oppose.

Powerful members of Congress and our state legislatures, funded by gun manufacturers, armed with gun lobby talking points, and buoyed by Second Amendment absolutists, stand in the way of enacting the very modest measures most Americans want.

Can such a stark division between what most Americans want and what Congress is willing (or able) to deliver be healthy for representative democracy in this country?