While mass shootings like the recent slayings at a Buffalo supermarket are typically followed with new calls for gun control, most voters believe that is not the answer, and an overwhelming majority say it’s impossible to stop the gun killings.
In the latest Rasmussen Reports survey, likely voters quizzed after the May 14 shooting at a Tops Friendly Markets store that left 10 black people dead followed a pattern seen over the past several years, expressing the hopelessness of stopping the killings, often at the hands of a mentally disturbed shooter.
Reports have linked the alleged Buffalo teenage shooter to white supremacy.
Asked, for example, if it was possible to “completely prevent mass shootings like the one in Buffalo,” 61% said, “No,” and 24% said, “Yes,” better than a 2-to-1 margin.
The margin tightened when asked if more undefined “gun control” could have prevented the shooting. But by a 50%-40% margin, voters said stricter gun restrictions would not have stopped the shooting.
“In the aftermath of a teenage gunman’s deadly spree in Buffalo, most voters remain unconvinced that more gun control laws can prevent such mass shootings,” said the survey analysis.
Democrats, women, and black people have a greater confidence that gun control would help, said Rasmussen. But Republicans are overwhelmingly negative.
President Joe Biden has repeatedly called for sweeping gun control and even gun bans but taken no action, even though his party controls the House and Senate. The issue is typically a key election issue, and this year, Biden is struggling to move his agenda through Congress.
