[minot]

> Restricting access to guns is popular in this country.

I think this is a problem with or feature of our democracy. If eighty percent of the voters want gun control but only half of them show up (forty percent) and vote for one of four different candidates but twenty percent of the population makes it their single issue and votes reliably for the same candidate, the candidate wins in first past the post.

[aksss]

Be suspicious when you’re told 80% of the country agrees on any policy position. 80% of the people also probably want society to have less offensive speech, but does that translate to 80% of the people wanting to abridge freedom of speech (particularly theirs)? Probably not. Effective policy, especially when abridging rights, is a very nuanced discussion that most people don’t have the patience or interest to discuss, but everyone has sentiment. “If wishes were fishes, nobody would go hungry.”

[HideousKojima]

Similarly, you'll see crazy high numbers in support of things like universal background checks, but as soon as you ask questions like "Do you believe a background check should be required to loan your roommate your gun to take to the range/loan your nextdoor neighbor a gun when her ex finds out where she lives/etc." the percentages plummet.