Why don’t gun control advocates go after handguns more?

[TheReckoning]

Handguns are used in 80% of violent crime committed with guns. Someone is more likely to be murdered by someone’s bare hands than with an assault rifle. So why are rifles the target of more gun control legislation than handguns?

[Andrew Cuomo is a No Go]

As someone who favors somewhat more gun control than we presently have, there’s basically 2 reasons. One: Handguns are the most useful weapons for self-defense, which (in my opinion) is the best reason to own a firearm. It’s a case of seeing more positive value in handgun ownership than in rifle ownership. Two: Unfortunately, the only times gun control is taken seriously as an issue is in the aftermath of some horrible tragedy. These are typically not committed with handguns. Since reforms usually occur in the aftermath of such events, handguns are not the focus.

[Ferguson97]

I'm perfectly happy to go after handguns.

[Mr. Smith]

You can't get moderates and indies and disaffecteds to care about a weapon that can do maybe a little more than a knife...compared to assault weapons that can mow down people very quickly.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

Rifles generally are deadlier and cause more severe damage than handguns. Also, banning handguns would be politically untenable.

[LostFellow]

It's still surprising to me that in a 1959 Gallup poll, Do you think there should or should not be a law that would ban the possession of handguns, except by the police and other authorized persons? was supported 60-36, and in 1965, there was still plurality support 49-44.

Through the 70's to late 90's the tracker was at low 40s and upper 30s support, and since then it's declined further to the 20s.

It's not surprising that in the modern day, the wording of this question makes it easy to disagree with such a proposal from both left-libertarian and right-libertarian perspectives. And while I don't think that these perspectives are necessarily wrong, it is interesting to think about how America used to have extremely high institutional and communal trust, justifiably or not.

[Mr. Smith]

It's still surprising to me that in a 1959 Gallup poll, Do you think there should or should not be a law that would ban the possession of handguns, except by the police and other authorized persons? was supported 60-36, and in 1965, there was still plurality support 49-44.

Through the 70's to late 90's the tracker was at low 40s and upper 30s support, and since then it's declined further to the 20s.

It's not surprising that in the modern day, the wording of this question makes it easy to disagree with such a proposal from both left-libertarian and right-libertarian perspectives. And while I don't think that these perspectives are necessarily wrong, it is interesting to think about how America used to have extremely high institutional and communal trust, justifiably or not.

There was no Civil Rights Act of consequence yet (1957 was pretty much nothing).  You could argue correlation doesn't equal causation on this, but...

[LostFellow]

It's still surprising to me that in a 1959 Gallup poll, Do you think there should or should not be a law that would ban the possession of handguns, except by the police and other authorized persons? was supported 60-36, and in 1965, there was still plurality support 49-44.

Through the 70's to late 90's the tracker was at low 40s and upper 30s support, and since then it's declined further to the 20s.

It's not surprising that in the modern day, the wording of this question makes it easy to disagree with such a proposal from both left-libertarian and right-libertarian perspectives. And while I don't think that these perspectives are necessarily wrong, it is interesting to think about how America used to have extremely high institutional and communal trust, justifiably or not.

There was no Civil Rights Act of consequence yet (1957 was pretty much nothing).  You could argue correlation doesn't equal causation on this, but...

I mean yeah, I'd agree that plenty of racist white Americans in the 50s had high trust in their racist institutions at the time, so they trusted the cops and societal structures from keep black Americans from coming to their neighborhoods, rather than feeling they needed their own handguns.

I guess a qualification for my statement "America used to have extremely high institutional and communal trust" is that White America, reflected in the large polling majority, had such trust in unethical institutions.

[TheReckoning]

It's still surprising to me that in a 1959 Gallup poll, Do you think there should or should not be a law that would ban the possession of handguns, except by the police and other authorized persons? was supported 60-36, and in 1965, there was still plurality support 49-44.

Through the 70's to late 90's the tracker was at low 40s and upper 30s support, and since then it's declined further to the 20s.

It's not surprising that in the modern day, the wording of this question makes it easy to disagree with such a proposal from both left-libertarian and right-libertarian perspectives. And while I don't think that these perspectives are necessarily wrong, it is interesting to think about how America used to have extremely high institutional and communal trust, justifiably or not.

There was no Civil Rights Act of consequence yet (1957 was pretty much nothing).  You could argue correlation doesn't equal causation on this, but...

I mean yeah, I'd agree that plenty of racist white Americans in the 50s had high trust in their racist institutions at the time, so they trusted the cops and societal structures from keep black Americans from coming to their neighborhoods, rather than feeling they needed their own handguns.

I guess a qualification for my statement "America used to have extremely high institutional and communal trust" is that White America, reflected in the large polling majority, had such trust in unethical institutions.

These days, black people commit ~50% of homicides. Was that the case pre-Civil Rights Act as well?

[LostFellow]

It's still surprising to me that in a 1959 Gallup poll, Do you think there should or should not be a law that would ban the possession of handguns, except by the police and other authorized persons? was supported 60-36, and in 1965, there was still plurality support 49-44.

Through the 70's to late 90's the tracker was at low 40s and upper 30s support, and since then it's declined further to the 20s.

It's not surprising that in the modern day, the wording of this question makes it easy to disagree with such a proposal from both left-libertarian and right-libertarian perspectives. And while I don't think that these perspectives are necessarily wrong, it is interesting to think about how America used to have extremely high institutional and communal trust, justifiably or not.

There was no Civil Rights Act of consequence yet (1957 was pretty much nothing).  You could argue correlation doesn't equal causation on this, but...

I mean yeah, I'd agree that plenty of racist white Americans in the 50s had high trust in their racist institutions at the time, so they trusted the cops and societal structures from keep black Americans from coming to their neighborhoods, rather than feeling they needed their own handguns.

I guess a qualification for my statement "America used to have extremely high institutional and communal trust" is that White America, reflected in the large polling majority, had such trust in unethical institutions.

These days, black people commit ~50% of homicides. Was that the case pre-Civil Rights Act as well?

First off, "18/50" discourse is nonsensical to me since the statistics fail to account for income---one could equivalently say poor people or renters commit X% of homicides, and what would that entail?

That aside, the research in pre-WWII criminology is much sparser, as the field only really blew up during the Great Society Era with the controversial Moynihan report and all that. The few historical analyses I found would say, yes, homicide rates for Black Americans were higher than White Americans, but to a significantly smaller degree than today. I would be interesting to see if that disparity even existed in the South, but there doesn't seem to be data that granular. But this is not the most surprising, as the story of crime issues in Black America is more a story of the Great Migration, with many structural and policy failures that adversely impacted Black Americans as they tried to start new lives and communities in cities across the US.

[Meclazine for Israel]

The AR-15 (and related family of rifles) is not a weapon that civilians need for any purpose.

It's a weapon of war and as such, it's sale should be banned.

[dead0man]

1.they would if they could
2.the myth that a handgun is the "best defensive" weapon is a strong and persistent one
3.they aren't (generally) as scary looking as long guns

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

It's still surprising to me that in a 1959 Gallup poll, Do you think there should or should not be a law that would ban the possession of handguns, except by the police and other authorized persons? was supported 60-36, and in 1965, there was still plurality support 49-44.

Through the 70's to late 90's the tracker was at low 40s and upper 30s support, and since then it's declined further to the 20s.

It's not surprising that in the modern day, the wording of this question makes it easy to disagree with such a proposal from both left-libertarian and right-libertarian perspectives. And while I don't think that these perspectives are necessarily wrong, it is interesting to think about how America used to have extremely high institutional and communal trust, justifiably or not.

There was no Civil Rights Act of consequence yet (1957 was pretty much nothing).  You could argue correlation doesn't equal causation on this, but...

Support for gun control is less than it was in the 70s and 80s. Doubtful that racist views are more widespread now than in the 70s and 80s. But trust in government and other institutions is lower now, even lower than in the aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate.