Gun Control in the United States
With recent tragedies like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, as well as other mass shootings like the massacre at Virginia Tech, the debate over gun control is at the forefront of American politics. This debate is extremely controversial, as it calls to question some deeply rooted American traditions. In general terms, on one side of the debate are those who support looser regulation of guns in the United States. These people firmly believe in their second amendment right to bear arms. Opposing them on the other side are Americans who support the tightening of gun restrictions in the United States. These people believe that several laws must be passed to make access to firearms limited.
The debate over gun control in the United States is both a social and economic issue. This is apparent through the role interest groups, as well as public opinion in the debate over firearm regulations. Through these two political linkage mechanisms, we can see how well democratic principles like popular sovereignty and political equality are maintained through this debate.
Public opinion remains one of the most powerful influences on public policy in the United States. This is why politicians are constantly referencing the enormous volume of public opinion polling conducted in the United States. These polls allow representatives to see what their constituents think about certain issues and tailor their agenda accordingly. However, as we will see, this is not always what occurs. In a Gallup pole conducted between October third and October sixth of this year (See Figure 1), forty nine percent of Americans said that laws covering the sale of firearms should be made stricter. On the same question, only 37 percent of Americans said that the laws should remain the same. Though this disparity has fluctuated up and down during the past years, there has always been a majority of the American people who support the tightening of laws regarding the sale of firearms. What about the question of banning handguns as a whole? The Gallup pole suggests that this is not in the interest of the majority of the American populous. However, the numbers still tell us something about the general feeling towards guns in the United States. Twenty fiver percent of Americans still believed that handguns should be banned except for police and other law enforcement agencies. The fact that a quarter of Americans support the total banning of hand guns tells us that a healthy portion of Americans are staunchly opposed to the possession of firearms. At the least, the majority of Americans would like stricter policies on the purchasing of Firearms. In late September of this year, Quinnipiac University conducted a poll in which they asked Americans if they supported background checks for all gun buyers. The results are astonishing. Eighty nine percent of Americans said that they support background checks of all gun buyers. On the other hand, only nine percent of Americans said that they do not support background checks before the sale of firearms. Based strictly on the numbers, it would seem that there is a pattern that Americans want stricter regulation on firearms, but are not getting it.
Although some people may argue that these general poll questions are not specific enough and merely ask for a general opinion, other public opinion polls tell us that Americans specifically want legislation aimed at tightening gun control. Take for example a recent CBS News/New York Times poll conducted between May thirty first and June fourth of this year. The poll asked, “Regardless of how you feel about the issue, how likely do you think it is that Congress and the President will pass any laws that will bring about change to gun policy by the end of this year?” Thirty percent of Americans said that it was not very likely, while twenty six percent of Americans said that it was not likely at all. This is rather discouraging. If we take the results from the Quinnipiac pole and compare them to the responses to these CBS/New York Times questions, there seems to be a disconnection. While the majority of Americans want stricter regulations, many do not have faith in their legislatures to make this happen. Another question in this poll read, "In April, a bill that would have expanded background checks on gun purchases did not receive enough votes in the U.S. Senate to pass. If it comes up for another vote, do you think Congress should pass a bill that expands background checks for gun purchases, or not?" An overwhelming sixty nine percent of Americans said that congress should pass a bill expanding background checks. This is opposed to the mere twenty eight percent of Americans who thought there should be no such bill. Though some might argue that these findings are only from one poll, other public opinion polls verify these results. In May of this year, ABC/The Washington Post conducted a poll on gun control opinion in the United States. The poll asked, "As you may know, the Senate recently rejected a proposal to require background checks on people buying guns at gun shows and online. Do you think the Senate did the right thing or the wrong thing in rejecting expanded background checks?". Sixty seven percent of Americans said that the Senate did the wrong thing, while twenty nine percent of Americans said that Senate did the right thing. These numbers are very similar to those found in the CBS/New York Times poll that asked about the same event. This verifies that a vast majority of Americans think that the way in which our legislators are handling the gun control issue is wrong. Americans want more regulation, but where is it?
Through these measures of public opinion, we can clearly see that there exists a disconnect between the desires of the populous and the legislative action of our representatives. In his article titled “Why Gun Laws Are So Hard to Pass”, Washington Post analyst Chris Cillizza writes, “All of these numbers illustrate the crux of the divide between public opinion and political action on guns.” (Cillizza, 2013) So what does this mean about the role of popular sovereignty and political equality in the debate over gun control? Popular sovereignty is the basic idea that the ultimate source of political authority is the people. In order for popular sovereignty to exist, a set of standards must be maintained. These standards include competitive and fair elections, widespread citizen participation, and high quality political information. This policy debate specifically fails to maintain two of the remaining standards of popular sovereignty: the majority rules, and the idea that policies generally reflect people’s wishes. As we can see from the public opinion polling results, a majority of Americans want tighter restrictions on firearms. Despite this majority opinion, the legislation does not reflect the majority. This disparity between the general opinion of the country and the laws that are in place is a direct contradiction to popular sovereignty. This issue also involves the standard of popular sovereignty that states that policies should reflect the wishes of the people. Through the lens of public opinion, we can see that the wishes of the people are not accurately reflected in the legislation. Furthermore, some of these polls show us that Americans recognize this problem and feel that their representatives are not acting in their interest. These polls reflected the aspect of distrust in government that is characteristic of American political culture. The debate on gun control is an unfortunate example of our political ideals being ignored. The idea of popular sovereignty is embedded in our constitution, yet this democratic principle is being completely disregarded in the debate over gun control. Perhaps even more concerning than this violation of Popular sovereignty is the fact that many Americans feel hopeless about the chance of change in Washington. So why exactly is it so difficult for these gun control reforms to pass?
One explanation for the difficulty to pass gun control legislation is the powerful influence interest groups on political agendas. The framers, who used the term factions, believed that interest groups were dangerous to the greater good of the nation. They believed that interest groups selfishly changed public policy in a way that only benefited them. This is still the case in 2013, and when it comes to the debate on gun control, no interest group is more powerful and influential than the National Riffle Association (NRA). In fact, many people view the NRA as the chief opponent of gun control expansion in the United States.
As a private interest group, the NRA works to mold political agendas in a way that is favorable to the members of their association. However, the NRA is much too powerful and subsequently causes the misrepresentation evident in the public opinion polls. In his article, “The Power of the NRA”, Washington Post writer Ed O’Keefe discusses the enormous influence the NRA has on public policy. He uses two charts from a pamphlet by the Center for American Progress to supplement his argument. O’Keefe argues that the “NRA has successfully convinced supportive lawmakers to amend appropriations bills with subtle changes in how the Justice Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives track the flow of firearms.” (O’Keefe, 2013) O’Keefe highlights how the NRA uses lobbying to manipulate the funding for agencies like the Center for Disease Control. The chart shows that funding for firearm injury prevention research at the CDC has dropped from over two million dollars between 1993 and 1996 to just over one hundred thousand dollars between 2009 and 2012. This drastic cut is due to heavy lobbying by the NRA. The NRA has done the same with hundreds of other bills concerning the tracking of firearms as well as the sale of firearms. By manipulating the funding of the CDC and ATF, the NRA keeps the regulations on firearms from advancing.
The Center for American Progress report on the power of the NRA states that, “Inserting policy directives in spending bills bypasses the traditional process, which allows for more careful review and scrutiny of proposed legislation. Appropriations bills are intended to allocate funding to government agencies to ensure that they are capable of fulfilling their missions and performing essential functions.” (Stachelberg, Gerney, Parsons, 2013) The NRA uses this tight “inside Game” to control policies in a way that ensures that their members have the easiest access to firearms. This not only protects the interest of the members of the NRA, but ensures economic prosperity for the association itself. The NRA is a business. They create a wide variety of products from paper targets, to badges of marksmanship. The lobbying that the NRA does ensures that the demographic that buys their products remains interested in recreational use of firearms. They ensure this by manipulating the laws so that it is difficult, if not impossible, for legislators to make gun control stricter. This is an example of interest groups using their influence in a selfish manor. The laws that the NRA hinders include laws that could help protect Americans and save lives. The NRA disregards this truth and acts solely in the economic and social interests of their association. This scenario is exactly what the framers of the Constitution warned against.
Through the lenses of public opinion and interest groups, it is clear that the principles of Popular sovereignty and political equality are not being maintained in the debate over gun control. The polls show us that the majority of Americans want a change towards stricter gun control. If popular sovereignty were intact, we would see legislation that addressed an expansion on gun control like substantial background checks of gun buyers. Unfortunately the actions of congress do not reflect the wishes of the people. While some may argue that the NRA enhances political equality by giving it’s members a voice to express their political beliefs, the NRA truly does the opposite. This is because the NRA has a disproportionate influence on legislation. While it does give a voice to its members, the NRA is responsible for silencing the voices of a tremendously larger group Americans. Since the NRA manipulates law making is such a way, it trashes both political equality and popular sovereignty. This is because the NRA is undermining the principles of majority rule and policies that reflect the general wishes of the people. The NRA has an unfair influence and it is a serious problem. If we as a country will allow an interest group to oppose our ideals so unfairly, how important are those ideals. Popular sovereignty and political equality are supposedly foundational concepts of our government. However, on repeated occasions we let interest groups like the NRA disregard these ideals in grossly selfish ways. Debates like these bring in to question whether some of the principles like popular sovereignty and political equality laid out in the Constitution of the United States have any true meaning in our society today. In “The Struggle for Democracy”, Greenberg states that, “If ultimate authority resides not in the hands of the many but in the hands of the few, or of the one, democracy does not exists.” (Greenberg, 2012) Does the NRA go as far as to threaten American Democracy? I say it does.

Works Cited Cillizza, Chris. "Why Gun Laws Are So Hard To Pass." The Washington Post. N.p., 16 Apr. 2013. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/04/16/why-gun-control-laws-are-so-hard-to-pass/>.

Greenberg, Edward S., and Benjamin I. Page. The Struggle for Democracy. N.p.: Pearson Education, 2014. Print.

"Guns." Gallup.Com. N.p., 3 Oct. 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.http://www.gallup.com/poll/1645/Guns.aspx

"Guns." Guns. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.http://www.pollingreport.com/guns.htm

O'Keefe, Ed. "The Power of the NRA- in Two Charts." The Washington Post. N.p., 20 Mar. 2013. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/03/20/the-power-of-the-nra-in-two-charts/>.

Stachelberg, Winnie, Arkadi Gerney, and Chelsea Parsons. "Blindfolded, and with One Hand Tied Behind the Back How the Gun Lobby Has Debilitated Federal Action on Firearms and What President Obama Can Do About It." Center for American Progress. N.p., 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/GunRidersBrief-7.pdf>.