Gallup: Americans Say Police Presence, Mental Health Screenings More Effect Than Banning Guns At Preventing School Shootings Like Sandy Hook

According to a recent Gallup poll following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, a majority of Americans believe that a police presence, more attention to mental health screening and  decreasing gun violence on TV and video games are all more effective than banning guns to prevent mass school shootings like what took place at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT.

However, Barack Obama and Democrats never waste the opportunity to exploit a bad situation. Obama has announced that VP Biden will head a commission to look into an “all of the above” search into things that can be done to prevent future shootings. Whether that can be done or not his debatable, but many are concerned that Obama’s “all of the above” approach will look similar to his energy policy and only deal with gun control.

Americans are most likely to say that an increased police presence at schools, increased government spending on mental health screening and treatment, and decreased depiction of gun violence in entertainment venues would be effective in preventing mass shootings at schools.

Americans rate the potential effectiveness of a ban on assault and semi-automatic guns as fourth on a list of six actions Gallup asked about. Americans rated the effectiveness of three potential actions higher than the semi-automatic weapon ban. But it is clear that Americans are not overwhelmingly convinced that any of the actions would be highly effective in preventing future school shootings. Slightly more than half (53%) of Americans say that increased police presence would be very effective. This action is at the top of the effectiveness list. The only other action that a majority of Americans view as very effective is government spending on mental health screening and treatment — 50% say this would be very effective.

Banning guns is fourth on the list of Americans for preventing violence, yet it is obviously number one in the partisan liberal agenda of Barack Obama, Democrats and liberals.  The Gallup partisan breakdown on banning guns is as follows: 26% GOP, 36% Independent, 61% Democrat. One of the three is just a tab bit outside of the bell curve.