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[jimmy the one]

6. reply to a ghost

shamash: Part of this attitude might come from the fact that firearm murders are declining, and have been doing so all by themselves for many years without any extra gun control laws to explain it.

You forgot the part where gun ownership rates significantly declined the very years which significant firearm & overall murder rates declined. One logical assumption can be that because gun ownership rates declined, murder rates & violent crime rates declined concomitantly.

sham:.. a national assault weapon ban did not pass a Democratic majority Senate in the wake of Newtown (60 voted against and 14 of them were Democrats)..

Since you're citing pew, here is the pew national poll on an assault weapon ban then:

"A ban on assault-style weapons" (support, oppose, no op)
5/1-5/13 ....... 54 ... 42.. 4
2/13-18/13 ...... 56 ... 41.. 3
1/9-13/13 ........ 55 ... 40 ...5 http://www.pollingreport.com/guns.htm

This one failed to pass too: Quinnipiac: Would you support or oppose a law requiring background checks on people buying guns at gun shows or online?" Supt Oppose
4/25-29/13 ........... 83 ...13 ...3

So what you've proved, sham, is that politicians, esp republican ones, don't follow the opinions of what americans really want.