This just in:

New polling out today from Quinnipiac:

https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2521

American voters support stricter gun laws 66 – 31 percent, the highest level of support ever measured by the independent Quinnipiac University National Poll, with 50 – 44 percent support among gun owners and 62 – 35 percent support from white voters with no college degree and 58 – 38 percent support among white men.

Today’s result is up from a negative 47 – 50 percent measure of support in a December 23, 2015, survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University Poll.

Support for universal background checks is itself almost universal, 97 – 2 percent, including 97 – 3 percent among gun owners. Support for gun control on other questions is at its highest level since the Quinnipiac University Poll began focusing on this issue in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre:
67 – 29 percent for a nationwide ban on the sale of assault weapons;

83 – 14 percent for a mandatory waiting period for all gun purchases. It is too easy to buy a gun in the U.S. today, American voters say 67 – 3 percent. If more people carried guns, the U.S. would be less safe, voters say 59 – 33 percent. Congress needs to do more to reduce gun violence, voters say 75 – 17 percent.

Stricter gun control would do more to reduce gun violence in schools, 40 percent of voters say, while 34 percent say metal detectors would do more and 20 percent say armed teachers are the answer.

“If you think Americans are largely unmoved by the mass shootings, you should think again. Support for stricter gun laws is up 19 points in little more than 2 years,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

“In the last two months, some of the biggest surges in support for tightening gun laws comes from demographic groups you may not expect, independent voters, men, and whites with no college degree.”

Mass killings by U.S. citizens is a bigger problem than mass killings by people from other countries, American voters say 70 – 20 percent.

You can find out on this website whether your Congressman or Senator is supported by the Pro-Death lobby:

https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/recips.php?id=d000000082

A group of teens and their supporters had a “die-in” in front of the White House to raise awareness of the need for gun control.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/19/politics/white-house-protest-teens-gun-control/index.html

Two friends recruited 15 others and called themselves Teens for Gun Reform. They expected to lie still for three minutes, the time it took for Nicolas Cruz to kill 17 people in Parkland, Florida. As word spread via social media, the group expanded to more than 100.

The youth will lead us. They are courageous and idealistic. They are the change we have been waiting for.

The New York Times posted a graph that helps to explain mass shootings. 

“Perhaps, some speculate, it is because American society is unusually violent. Or its racial divisions have frayed the bonds of society. Or its citizens lack proper mental care under a health care system that draws frequent derision abroad.

“These explanations share one thing in common: Though seemingly sensible, all have been debunked by research on shootings elsewhere in the world. Instead, an ever-growing body of research consistently reaches the same conclusion.

”The only variable that can explain the high rate of mass shootings in America is its astronomical number of guns….

”Americans make up about 4.4 percent of the global population but own 42 percent of the world’s guns. From 1966 to 2012, 31 percent of the gunmen in mass shootings worldwide were American, according to a 2015 study by Adam Lankford, a professor at the University of Alabama.”

Republicans like to blame mass shootings on mental health issues (“sick people”) but they don’t want to fund mental health services. Last year the eliminated a regulation that prevented people with mental illness from buying guns. Consistency is not their strong point. Although they are consistent in their fealty to the NRA.