We are a schizophrenic lot, apparently. A new Quinnipiac University poll of Virginia residents released on Thursday reports that we support by a 66 percent-29 percent margin putting armed police officers in schools, and also support by a 60 percent-36 percent margin limiting gun purchases to one a month.
And by a 92 percent-7 percent gap, Virginia voters support background checks for people buying guns at gun shows.
On the more general question of wheher gun laws should be more strict, there was a slight edge in the yes column, at 49 percent, to 42 percent saying gun-control laws should remain at their current level of strictness, and 6 percent saying less strict.
“Virginians, by a slight margin, are in favor of more gun control, but they don’t seem to fit nicely into either camp in the gun debate following the Newtown school massacre,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
More from the poll:
· 58 percent-39 percent support for a national ban on assault weapons
· 59 percent-37 percent support for banning high capacity ammunition magazines
· 62 percent-27 percent that allowing people to own assault weapons makes the country more dangerous
· 64 percent-24 percent that if they agreed with a political candidate on other issues, but not on the issue of guns, they could still vote for that candidate
· 66 percent-31 percent oppose allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons in the classroom
· 59 percent-33 percent that the National Rifle Assn. is more concerned with protecting gun-owners’ rights than in protecting gun-makers’ profits
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AFP
