In the days after The New York Times published a front-page editorial calling for the ban of assault rifles, half of the Americans polled by the newspaper said they oppose the prohibition.
The
poll, announced this week, was conducted among 1,275 adults on Dec. 4-8, starting on the day the Times posted online an editorial that was published on the following day's front page — the first time the paper took an editorial stand on Page 1 since 1920.
In it, the Times' editorial board wrote that "certain kinds of weapons, like the slightly modified combat rifles used in California, and certain kinds of ammunition, must be outlawed for civilian ownership."
However, the poll found that 50 percent of respondents oppose such a ban, while 44 percent favor it, marking the first majority opposition since the newspaper started asking the question in 1995, reports
The Washington Free Beacon.
Not only did the poll's respondents oppose such a ban, but 33 percent said they do not believe it would prevent gun violence at all, compared to 26 percent who think a ban would help a lot; 24 percent some; and 15 percent, not much.
Most people, though, at 45 percent, said that they believe mental health screening and treatment improvements would help "a lot" to stem gun violence, with just 8 percent saying they don't think that would help at all.
The much-panned anti-gun editorial was the first to appear on The Times' front page since 1920, when the newspaper called the nomination of eventual President Warren G. Harding "the gift of a splendid opportunity” for the Democratic Party. However, in that election, Harding won 37 of the nation's then-48 states, with 404 of the 531 electoral votes, the Free Beacon notes.
Related Stories:
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.