In this issue:
Key findings
More key findings
Regulating entertainment
Gun control
Amending the Constitution
Searches and law enforcement
Last months National Debate

USA WEEKEND's Third Annual America's Poll

Our exclusive July Fourth poll finds Americans ready to trade some cherished freedoms for greater safety for themselves -- and their children.

ust two MONTHS after the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, horrific gun crimes by the young have reached such runaway proportions it's become hard to keep track. Would Americans accept new restrictions on guns and Hollywood -- and surrender some freedoms -- to prevent another Columbine? That's what a USA WEEKEND poll has found.

 

Go to top Key findings 52% say the right to bear arms should be modified or eliminated. 89% believe there should be some restrictions on gun ownership. 59% favor restriction of violence in movies and music. 67% favor regulating violence in video games and on TV. 64% favor regulating violence on the Internet and in music videos. 86% favor metal detectors at school entrances. The majority also supports them in government offices, in the workplace and at museums and sporting events. 75% say no to car searches based on drivers' appearance.

The scientific poll of 1,005 adults shows dramatic support around the nation, and across lines of sex and race, for strict regulation of guns, less gratuitous violence in entertainment and heightened security measures in public places. The poll suggests Columbine may have been a defining moment in public opinion. For years, says U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., "I have been asking myself which of these cataclysmic school tragedies would be the one that changes political sensibilities about kids and guns. Columbine High may finally be it."

Indeed, Columbine High may have changed sensibilities in many areas. Poll respondents indicate surprising willingness to impose new restrictions, accept impositions such as metal detectors -- even to amend the Constitution -- in return for reater safety for themselves and their children.

Highlights of the USA WEEKEND poll:

Regulating entertainment

Sixty-seven percent favor limiting violence in video games and on TV, while 59% would restrict violence in movies and music. A majority opposes regulating books. Women were more likely than men to support curbs on violence on TV, in movies, in music videos, in video games and on the Internet. "Women deal with children more," suggests Debbie Mushynski, 41, an Antigo, Wis., mother of five and a poll respondent. "Women see the effects [of TV violence] every day on their children."

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More key findings Protect children from violent media: 89% say parents are most responsible for keeping violent media materials away from kids. Don't change basic Constitutional rights: 81% want to preserve freedom of speech. 78% say freedom of assembly should remain unchanged. And 65% support freedom of the press as it is. More women than men would ban guns: Who wants guns outlawed? Women, by a 2-1 margin over men (25% vs. 13%), younger adults (28% of those 18-24 vs. 14% of those 35-44) and African Americans (30% vs. 17% of white Americans). About this USA WEEKEND scientific poll: Opinion Research Corp. International surveyed a random sample of 1,005 adults nationwide May 13-16. Margin of error: plus or minus 2 percentage points. The margin of error is larger for responses of subgroups, such as gender or age categories.

Gun control

Seventy percent support new restrictions on gun ownership. When it comes to banning guns outright, twice as many people, 19%, believe most gun ownership should be banned as believe guns should be unregulated, 9%. Women, the poor and younger respondents were most likely to favor additional restrictions; those also are the groups most vulnerable to crime. "It is too easy to get a gun, and they need to make it harder," says Angel Oakfor, 28, of Hawthorne, Calif.

Amending the Constitution

Strong majorities across the board favor preserving the First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, assembly and the press -- but preserving the Second Amendment freedom to own guns failed to draw a majority. Just 45% say the right to bear arms should be retained just as it is; 52% would modify or eliminate it.

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Searches and law enforcement

Widespread support for tight security measures suggests many Americans are willing to be inconvenienced, and surrender some rights, in return for added safety. "No one wants to go to school. No one wants to go to the mall. They're afraid of getting shot," says Anthony Morris, 26, of St. Petersburg, Fla. "How much freedom is that?"

Some 86% of those surveyed favor metal detectors at school entrances, and broad majorities would accept similar measures at the entrances to government offices, workplaces and locations such as museums and sports arenas. The poll also found support for such ideas as Internet posting of photos and addresses of felons being released from prison, and establishing a national police database of children's likenesses and fingerprints.

Not all added policing measures are favored, however; 75% say no to allowing police to search cars solely because of the driver's appearance. Even most whites oppose "driver profiling," which usually targets minorities. And 71% said no to strip searches of students by school officials.

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road public support for strict gun regulations is the most striking feature of the USA WEEKEND poll, and in this the findings are consistent with academic survey data. For instance, polls conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago found recently that 85% of Americans favor handgun registration; even 75% of gun owners do. Tom Smith, an official at the research center, says, "There has been a prominent shift in the 1990s toward more public support for stricter gun regulation."

Stephen Teret, head of the Center for Gun Policy and Research at Johns Hopkins University, believes one factor is that "the public has begun to see guns as consumer products, and so is demanding for firearms the same kind of safety regulation applied to other consumer products."

Rising support for gun regulation is happening at a time when crime overall is declining. But that dropoff is from the '80s peak. Murder rates in the United States remain much higher than in the rest of the Western world, and the rate of killings by those under 18 is higher than ever, says Alfred Blumstein, a Carnegie-Mellon University criminologist. The recent surge in school shootings suggests some combination of violent images in entertainment and culture, easy access to weapons and Hollywood's relentless promotion of the gun is pushing susceptible teens over the edge.

Reacting to the Columbine killings and new public pressure, the Senate voted in May for the first gun legislation since the 1993 Brady Bill. The Senate action, which at press time had not been matched by the House, would require safety locks with all new firearms and background checks for sales at gun shows. Gun lobbyists traditionally have used the Senate to block regulation, because rural voters tend to be more tolerant of guns than suburban voters are, and rural states are over-represented in the Senate.

So it was significant that the Senate took the first step for tighter gun controls. After the vote, Minority Leader Thomas Daschle, D-S.D., declared, "What you just saw is the NRA [National Rifle Association] losing its grip on the U.S. Senate at long last."

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Respondents to USA WEEKEND's poll overwhelmingly say the first responsibility for keeping violent materials away from children falls on parents. But can the government take some action against violent entertainment? In the wake of Columbine, President Clinton ordered a federal investigation of the marketing of violent entertainment. Presumably, if the study finds that Hollywood and video-game producers deliberately aim violence at the young, the entertainment industry would be exposed to lawsuits similar to those directed at tobacco companies caught marketing to children. Threats of litigation certainly would get Hollywood's attention.

Rather than wait to be sued, producers of entertainment might voluntarily step back from gratuitous violence. Saying that nothing should be censored is, after all, quite different from saying that everything should be shown. Parents must protect their children, but shouldn't Hollywood accept responsibility for what it promotes? The ideal outcome would be for the film, TV, music and video-game industries to cut back on violence voluntarily -- perhaps following the simple rule of making only products they'd want their own children exposed to.

Ben Franklin cautioned that those who trade liberty for security risk ultimately losing both. This is a valid concern. But with mainstream movies glorifying murder and stressed-out teens having unfettered access to assault weapons, the pendulum has swung too far toward license and needs to swing back toward responsibility. At least that's what the USA WEEKEND poll respondents believe -- and the strength of their belief may be a watershed.

Gregg Easterbrook is a senior editor at "The New Republic" and a contributing editor of "The Atlantic Monthly". His latest book is "Beside Still Waters", about searching for faith in an age of doubt.

Contributing to this story: Michele Hatty, Dennis McCafferty and Lydia Strohl.

National Debate, what you said

Should your state ban the sale or rental of violent video games to minors?

Yes

10,308 readers responded by phone or at our Web site to USA WEEKEND's
June 4-6 National Debate. How voters split:

YES: 69%
NO: 31%

*Results for National Debate are not scientific.

*Results for America's Poll were conducted by Option Research Corp. International.