That would be my poll question. So let’s get real. These guys are nuts, so they should know a heck of a lot more about mental health than the BS they’re spewing.

You’d have to live under a rock to not hear the new gun law discussions and our rights according to the 2nd Amendment, which reads as ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State, as:

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. (Bear in mind, they were speaking of muskets.)

Naturally, the NRA and their supporters think any one can be part of a well regulated militia, except maybe for George W. Bush who didn’t want any part of that national guard/military commitment thing. Of course gun laws must also include semi- and automatic weapons, and in their extreme paranoia, they believe background checks would allow “the government” to intrude on the privacy of all those healthy gun owners.

The NRA has mega-bucks, so we looked at Public Opinion Polls not created in the warped minds of their lobbyists who have no comments about incidents like Sandy Hook and Columbine other than arming schools. (I wonder what other countries think when they read this stuff? Can they possibly think we’re not joking?)

Gallup reported in January 2013 strong support for gun control measures proposed by President Barack Obama:

• “Given the chance to vote “for” or “against” each of nine key proposals included in President Barack Obama’s plan to reduce gun violence, Americans back all nine.”
• “Americans are most likely to be in favor of requiring background checks for all gun sales (91%), increasing funding for mental health programs aimed at youth (82%), increasing funding for programs to train law enforcement and schools in responding to active armed attacks (79%), and increasing criminal penalties for people who buy guns for others — so-called straw purchasers (75%).”
• “The two least-broadly supported proposals, but ones majorities of Americans still favor, are reinstating and strengthening the 1994-2004 ban on assault weapons (60%), and limiting the sale of ammunition magazines to those with 10 rounds or less (54%).”
• “The three other specific policies tested in the new poll that garner somewhat lower — although still majority support — are federal funding for 15,000 street police officers (70%), federal funding for helping schools develop emergency response plans (69%), and banning the possession of armor-piercing bullets by civilians (67%).”
  

A survey conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in January 2013 found that:

• 74% of NRA members support requiring a background check system for all gun sales.
  
• NRA members broadly oppose new restrictions on gun ownership.
  

So you’ve got to love this poll conducted by the NRA of 1000 of its members between January 13 and January 14 that found:

• 90.7% of members favor “Reforming our mental health laws to help keep firearms out of the hands of people with mental illness.” A strong majority of 86.4% of members believe that strengthening laws concerning mental health records to prevent the mentally ill from obtaining firearms would be more effective at preventing mass murders than banning semi-automatic rifles.

• 92% of NRA members oppose gun confiscation via mandatory buy-back laws.

• 89% oppose banning semi-automatic firearms, often mistakenly called “assault rifles.”

• 93% oppose a law requiring gun owners to register with the federal government.

• 92% oppose a federal law banning the sale of firearms between private citizens.

How about we stop this moronic discussion and at minimum require those supporting the NRA to pass mental health and IQ tests? Triple numbers should be requisite. That should put a huge dent in their efforts.