In today’s Washington Post, a story explores the theory that recent mass shootings stem from economic hard times, and mentions the issue of gun control:

Predictably, the carnage has focused attention on the nation’s gun laws. Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said it is too easy for dangerous people to acquire guns.
“The common denominator in all these is that they’re all using a gun,” Helmke said of the recent killings. “You don’t see police officers in Pittsburgh being killed by people throwing knives at them. . . . We’ve always had violence, but in the old days you couldn’t take out so many people so quickly. Now we make it very easy to do that.”

Meanwhile, from Gallup:

In Gallup polling conducted prior to last week’s gun massacre at an immigrant center in Binghamton, N.Y., only 29% of Americans said the possession of handguns by private citizens should be banned in the United States. While similar to the 30% recorded in 2007, the latest reading is the smallest percentage favoring a handgun ban since Gallup first polled on this nearly 50 years ago.