A More Gun Friendly Society?

It seems as if guns are becoming more immersed with the American culture. It is hard to pinpoint exactly triggered (bad pun) it, however I'm sure we'll be able to figure it out.

I do remember around the '08 election, people thought that if Barack Obama would get elected, guns would be banned. Why they thought that, I do not know, but this Gallup poll from October 2009 illustrates those concerns. A whopping 55% of Americans with a gun, and 41% overall, held that belief. While it appears that Obama is in favor of stepping up gun laws, the outright banning of guns has not yet happened. That would obviously be unconstitutional, and I don't think a first term president would put re-election on the line with an issue like that.

In a Gallup Poll from October of 2009, a record low amount of Americans, 44%, stated that they wanted stricter gun laws. This was only 1 percentage point higher than those who thought that there should be no change at all. This was also a drop of 34% over only 19 years, something that very notable. It seems as if support for stricter control has just been steadily dropping ever since 1990, with a few hiccups. You can almost pinpoint exactly where the Columbine events occurred. There are a few quick rises and falls in the year 1999, obviously related to the high school tragedy. Around 2004, people want tighter laws, but other than those times, it seems that people are becoming more comfortable with guns around.

This post is just skimming the surface, hopefully in the near future I'll be able to figure out why this is occurring. Maybe they're just becoming more a part of our culture? That could be. Only time will tell.

Introduction

Hello, my name is Mike McLaughlin and I'm a senior Political Science major at Illinois State University. I think that a hot topic in this election year is the debate on the second amendment, which is the right to bear arms. I'm originally from the suburbs of Chicago, where this has been a very active topic as of late. In 1982, the city of Chicago passed an ordinance banning hand guns in order to curb violence. However, this past July, the Supreme Court declared the law unconstitional.  For the first time in 28 years, you could own a hand gun if you lived in the Chicago city limits. This decision coincides with one of the most violent periods in the city's rich history. It seems as if inner city kids are getting gunned down every single day. While many measures have been utilized to stop the killing, it seems as if nothing will work. Will citizens finally (legally) having guns to defend themselves make a difference? Only time will tell. As I said, this is a hot topic this election year. I worked on a major political campaign over the summer, and many calls we received from voters pertained to guns. This topic usually divides people, but hopefully I can illustrate both sides of the issue and we can have some intelligent conversations.