Wisconsin citizens are in favor of background checks on all gun sales, according to a poll by an anti-gun violence group.
However, the Wisconsin Rifle and Pistol Association disputes the results.
The poll said 80 percent of Wisconsin voters would support required background checks on all gun sales. The Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort sponsored the poll.
WAVE Executive Director Jeri Bonavia said the poll showed a wide range of voters favored the background checks.
“We just had tremendous support across all of Wisconsin, across all demographics,” Bonavia said.
Seven out of 10 National Rifle Association members support the checks as well, according to the WAVE release. Bonavia said the reason for a lack of action on the issue is because NRA leaders are disconnected from their average members.
“The lobbying organizations take much more extreme stands than typical gun owners or hunters,” Bonavia said.
Dick Baker, legislative liaison for the NRA associate group WRPA, said he would question the validity of a poll conducted by WAVE. According to Baker, if WAVE had used a well-known polling agency like Zogby, then the poll might be more trustworthy.
“I wouldn’t trust a poll conducted by Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort any more than I would trust a poll by the NRA,” Baker said, referencing the problem of polls conducted by advocacy groups.
The conservative Overbrook Research group and the liberal Lake Research Partners, according to the WAVE release, jointly conducted the poll. Baker said he was not familiar with the Overbrook Research group.
The NRA members he has had contact with are “adamantly opposed” to background checks on all gun sales according to Baker.
Village of Oregon Police Chief Doug Pettit, Chair of the Legislative Committee for the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association, said most NRA members he has talked to are worried background checks would be a “slippery slope” towards restricting other gun rights.
Despite opposition by the NRA, Pettit said most polls show Wisconsin residents are not averse to strengthening existing laws. Background checks on gun sales by private sellers, not just on licensed gun dealers, could help stop some gun crime, according to Pettit.
“Most of the studies show less illegal guns on the street means less violent crime,” Pettit said.
