Was The Bruen Decision Really “Out of Touch”?

If you listen to the so-called “mainstream” media at all, you’ve likely heard all the anti-gun hoopla over last year’s critical Supreme Court ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. “U.S. Supreme Court out of touch with most Americans,” read the headline of an op-ed in the Oregon Capital Chronicle. Other newspapers and websites followed suit with similar claims.

In defense of those publications, they were actually just printing what gun-ban groups were saying at the time. Upon announcement of the ruling, Michael Bloomberg-funded Everytown for Gun Safety immediately proclaimed, “Today’s ruling … is out of touch with the overwhelming majority of Americans.” The Brady gun-ban group, formerly Handgun Control Inc., put this way: “The majority opinion has demonstrated that they do not care about what the majority of Americans want and support.” Other gun-ban groups immediately jumped on the “out of touch” bandwagon, and Americans were force fed a constant barrage of this opinion, which had no basis in fact. 

Now, however, a new Marquette Law School poll gauging opinions on the Supreme Court has provided some facts to counter the fiction. While the study found a low overall approval of the Supreme Court’s actions (41 percent), it revealed that an incredible 67% of respondents favored the ruling—more than twice as many as those who opposed it!

“Support for the ruling in Bruen has been … stable when asked in September and November, with just under two-thirds in favor of the ruling and one-third opposed,” the report stated. “A differently worded question asked in 2022 found similar support for the decision among those who had heard of the ruling.”

While the revelation of the support from Bruen will likely be surprising to those on the wrong side of the Second Amendment debate, it tracks with a recent NBC Poll showing for the first time that more American households include a gun owner than those that don’t. That poll, released Nov. 21, showed a record level of gun ownership in America, with the majority of respondents—52%—reporting that they or someone in their household owns a firearm. In the end, it turns out that gun-ban groups like Brady and Everytown are the ones who are actually “out of touch with most Americans.” But that’s likely no surprise to those of us who take everything they say with a big grain of salt.

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About the Author

Freelance writer and editor Mark Chesnut is the owner/editorial director at Red Setter Communications LLC. An avid hunter, shooter and political observer, he has been covering Second Amendment issues and politics on a near-daily basis for nearly 25 years. 

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