The Last 2 Weeks Have Convinced Americans Gun Reform Could Happen

Polling in the aftermath of a mass shooting in the U.S. usually follows a well-worn pattern. The first surveys, conducted with the tragedy still flashing across TV screens, show a brief uptick in concern about gun violence, and maybe a spike in the national appetite for tighter firearm restrictions. Then, as soon as the story fades from the headlines, the increase is gone.

This time looks different.

A HuffPost/YouGov survey taken immediately after the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, found the same familiar uptick. But in the days since, the numbers have continued to shift in favor of congressional action on guns. There’s also a rising belief that Congress could actually take such action.

The deaths of 17 students and staff members Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School ― and the surge of activism that’s followed, led by surviving classmates ― have, the polling suggests, moved the national debate in a way that last year’s shootings at a Las Vegas concert and a Texas church did not.


Source : huffingtonpost