Deep in a survey of likely voters, paid for by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for firearms manufacturers, is the startling fact that most people don’t realize Joe Biden, the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee for president, is a gun-control extremist.
While 95% of likely voters said they are “very likely” to vote in the upcoming election, only 17% of gun owners in the survey said “gun-related issues” were one of their three top policy areas going into this election (15% did say “crime” and 18% said “civil rights”).
The truth that Biden is no moderate on guns clearly isn’t getting out enough. The thing is, it isn’t speculation that Biden wants our guns. This fact isn’t even just informed opinion based on Biden’s previous policy positions. The glaring truth is, Biden has actually published a long list of his desired gun bans and restrictions on his 2020 campaign website.
The survey did find that nearly 66% know that a ban on popular semi-automatic rifles wouldn’t reduce crime (25% thought it somehow it would—these people don’t appear to be aware that under 3% of homicides in any given year in the U.S. are committed with any type of rifle).
Media misinformation does taint some of the questions; for example, one question asks voters whether they would support a candidate who is for “gun safety and education.” It’s not even worth quoting the numbers the survey found on this question because gun-control groups have deceptively adopted the phrase “gun safety” and, in fact, now use it as a synonym for “gun control.” This has confused the public. The mainstream media hasn’t helped, as they’ve characteristically been happy to repeat this deception; today, for example, CNN, The New York Times, and more, habitually use the phrase “gun safety” when they’re referring to all sorts of bans on popular firearms and other restrictions on our freedom.
Meanwhile, answers to other questions did indicate that the vast majority of voters know that gun owners already must undergo background checks when they buy guns from stores. Also, clear majorities of voters said they are opposed to restrictions on semi-automatic rifles, commonly owned rifle magazines and more.
Interestingly, this election has a lot going on beneath this and other poll numbers. For example, since January 2020, more than 10.3 million background checks have been conducted on people seeking to buy one or more firearms. Also, an NSSF retailer surveys found that between March and May of this year, there have been more than 2.5 million first-time gun buyers in the U.S.—40% of whom are women.
Also, as voters traditionally don’t really engage until after Labor Day, there is still time for the Trump campaign, responsible media members, and us to inform the public that our freedom is clearly on the ballot this November 3.
This NSSF survey asked voters in 18 election battleground states 15 questions about gun ownership, their views of gun control, and more. The survey results can be found on the NSSF’s website.
