"The simple explanation is that support among the voters doesn't exist. This isn't a matter of right or wrong, it is political reality." __ solid point we could remember, thanks @tj1000!

This answer is entirely incorrect. A majority of americans support stricter gun laws: time.com/5167216/americans-gun-control-support-poll-2018 This isn't about the voters getting their say, it's about a very powerful lobbying group getting their say.

You are right of course. The "political reality" alluded to by the member is that, widespread support not being able to get translated by broad legislative consensus into effective gun control, it is just as good as no support @blip: "If the majority of citizens in the US support the current firearms regulations, they will remain the same." Is that a hurdle too high for USA? I hope the future proves you right and that support gets transformed into solid gun laws.

@blip: if the majority of americans supported stricter gun control, we'd have it. We don't. If they supported it, those legislators 'bought off' by the NRA and industry would be defeated in the next election. That doesn't happen. Those very obvious facts don't back up a targeted survey designed to get a specific answer that 'sounds good'.

@EnglishStudent yes, that's a good way to put it. Despite widespread support, it's been difficult to enact legislation due to reasons.

@tj1000 no, that's not how a representative democracy that has allowed corporations the legal right to have a financial say in elections works--not that 'majority rules' was ever the intent of our system here in the US to begin with. What you call 'very obvious facts' are nothing of the sort. "A majority of people wanting something = instant law" is not a fact of life in our electoral system. Hell, a majority of people wanted a different president. :)

@blip Because when the outcome of elections doesn't match your preferences, it must have been corporations buying off politicians. Yeah, sure.

@Sjoerd ha, no. Not at all. Note the smiley face. I was just being sarcastic. Only stating that having a majority of people wanting something is absolutely no guarantee of it happening. For a variety of reasons.

@blip ":)" is the "happy" smiley.

@Sjoerd is there a sarcastic smiley?

@blip Didn't we also have a lot of polls saying Hillary would win by a landslide? It seems absurd to me that people still think such polls matter.

@Andy polls said she'd get more votes. She did.

@blip... Once again... if the majority of people wanted stricter gun control, they'd vote in legislators to get it. This doesn't happen, because candidates who run on a gun control platform tend to be defeated. What we really need to do is solve the root problem. Note that Europe, with strict gun laws, has seen a lot of mass murders lately: illegal guns, bombs, and now trucks. Address the cause, and the means becomes irrelevant. How many more people will die because some of you want to use tragedy to boost your political agenda, rather than solve the problem?

@tj1000 once again, that’s simply not how the system works.

@blip No, that's not all they said. They predicted she'd win states she lost, badly. projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast politico.com/mapdata-2016/2016-election/results/map/presiden‌​t Those are pretty far off, wouldn't you say?

@Andy I don't know what to say. There haven't been any "badly" lost presidential elections in a while. All have had extremely close vote counts. Regardless, I really have no idea what that has to do with what we're talking about--unless you're arguing researching opinions is meaningless, in which case, this entire answer is meaningless.

@blip: Even if a majority of the people wanted gun control, the US Constitutional system is designed to keep majorities from trampling on the rights of minorities. If the majority is white, why guarantee equal rights to people with darker skin? If the majority are Christian, why not force everyone to support their local church? There are large areas (mostly non-urban) of this country where a gun is nothing more than a useful tool. Why should we have to alter our way of life at the behest of the urbanites?

@blip The last election was badly lost by Hillary. If the polls are projecting at 92% chance she'll win, and she gets easily beat, its clear the polls are junk. The same polls you're saying support your position that there is widespread support for gun control. This answer correctly says there is clearly not as gun control loses the only "poll" which matters; elections.

@jamesqf nothing to argue there. I was refuting the implication of the question.

@Andy my comment was to refute the implication of the answer...that there isn't public support. There is. In more than that one poll. The presidential election has nothing to do with that one poll. Winning a majority of votes is not 'getting beat bad'. And if there isn't a pro-gun-control candidate, then the election has no bearing on this issue, either. The reason there aren't more pro-gun control candidates? Because of the success of the NRA.

@blip: My point is that even if there is majority support, it comes mostly from a handful of large urban areas. Here's a map: isidewith.com/map/2Y5/support-for-gun-control#z5 The Constitution is set up so that majorities, even large ones, in just a few states can't amend the Constitution, It requires 38 states to vote in favor repealing the 2nd Amendment, and large parts of the country obviously don't want that, or even lesser control.

@blip You keep clinging to polling results as if they mean anything. They don't; at best, they are widely inaccurate. At worst, their results are manufactured. If the NRA is successful, its because they have a lot of people supporting them. This idea that the NRA has some magical way to block something that has overwhelming support is nonsense; i suspect its some kind of rationalize to avoid accepting the fact that there is not widespread support for gun control. The election poll was merely an example how of off polls can be, but there are plenty more.

@jamesqf again, I agree with you.

@Andy you keep claiming political polling results are widely inaccurate. Which isn't true. If it were, there'd be no reason for political polling. I said nothing about the NRA having powers of magic. They're really good at lobbying and influence.