President Obama is set to announce his gun control plan today and may be expected to use more than a dozen executive orders to impose stricter gun control, a stance favored by Latinos across the country.
While nearly 60% of Americans want stricter gun laws, a recent survey by the Pew Research Center says that 72% of Latinos say it’s more important to control gun ownership than to protect rights to own guns.
Another survey says that 86% of Latinos support all buyers to pass a criminal background check, “no matter where they buy the gun and no matter who they buy it from”.
“Latinos clearly place a priority on gun safety and prefer measures that make the gun sale laws stricter,” says Joshua Ulibarri, a Partner at Lake Research Partners.
President Obama’s gun control package will be presented in a three-part plan focused on gun violence, education, and mental health. The plan will include “bans on military-style assault weapons, high capacity magazines, a focus on universal background checks, and an attempt to curb illegal gun trafficking”. His package will also include “efforts to stop bullying and boost availability of mental health services”.
“We’re not going to get an outright ban,” says Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of New York. As a leading voice in Congress for gun control, McCarthy said she would keep pushing for a ban and hoped President Obama would do the same.
President Obama’s effort for stricter gun control is in response to December’s Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newton, Connecticut. 20 students and six adults were shot and killed.
A few theories on why Latinos are more likely to favor stricter gun control laws could be that many Latino immigrants come from countries with high rates of violence. Another reason is that Latinos experience much higher levels of gun violence in the U.S.
“Latinos have an opportunity to use their newly found political clout to call upon their leaders and members of Congress to enact stricter gun-control legislation, starting with renewing the ban on assault weapons,” writes Micky Ibarra, Founder of Latino Leaders Network, to Roll Call.
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