Public support for gun rights is increasing. More then half support gun rights. Pew Research.

Pew Research Center. 

In a major reversal a majority of people support gun rights then gun control, according to a new report from Pew Research Center. 52% of people now say that it is more important to protect gun ownership then restricting access to firearms. Support for gun rights had been increasing in polling until the shooting in Newton almost two years ago, which caused a dip in support for gun rights. More Americans have the opinion that guns protect people instead of putting them at risk, with 57% saying guns prevent crime. Demographically the largest jump in people that believe that guns help people are African Americans. In 2012 only 29% said guns helped prevent crime, compared to 54% in 2014. African Americans still say that guns should be controlled but the number of supports of gun rights has increased from 24% in 2012 to 34% in 2014.  

My Comment:

Another poll confirming what I've long suspected. My major surprise is that the numbers aren't higher. Gun control is on life support in this country and is only a factor due to the deep pockets of people like Michael Bloomberg. In addition, the supporters of gun rights are much more dedicated to their cause then the gun control advocates. Gun control advocates have had some victories though, so even as the polls turn against them, they still have power. 

As for why the numbers are changing here are some possible reasons:

1. Widespread civil unrest after the Michael Brown shooting probably convinced many people that owning a gun is a very good idea. Perhaps not all for the same reason though. Anyone who say the riots and demonstrations had the very reasonable fear that those riots could spread to the point that they could threaten their homes and lives. People don't believe the cops could protect them from that so they decided to protect themselves. Conversely, some people may have bought guns to protect themselves from perceived (and in my view incorrect) bias from the police. 

2. The Millennial generation is fairly libertarian in general. Sure there are still huge numbers of Social Justice Warriors who hate guns, but the generation is more libertarian then previous generations. That's good news for gun rights

3. Video games. You heard me. A whole generation of kids have been turned onto guns due to shooters like Call Of Duty and so on. Sure, some of those kids are annoying but they play video games with cool guns and think "man, these are cool, I'd sure like to own one in real life!"

4. People are sick of Democrats and their platform in general. Again, Democrats would disagree, but other then their die hard supporters, people are getting sick of everything related to Obama. And gun control is related to Obama. Of course some of that is 2nd term dissatisfaction but hopefully its more then that.