Bloomberg View: Data Is Key to Countering the Gun Lobby

The Sept. 16 rampage by a lone gunman at the Washington Navy Yard, which left 13 dead, has again focused attention on America’s gun laws. To see how thoroughly gun politics is entwined with gun culture, look no further than Colorado. In a proxy war between gun-rights and pro-regulation forces, two Democratic state legislators who backed successful gun legislation lost recall elections. The results confirm the battle for sensible gun regulation will be a long one.

According to a poll of one of the Colorado districts, voters supported expanded background checks by 68 percent to 27 percent, while they split 47 percent to 47 percent on the restrictions on high-capacity magazines. As in the nation at large, public opinion in Colorado in support of gun regulation proved broad but insufficiently deep. As long as gun-rights proponents remain a fiercely committed minority and gun-regulation proponents a largely passive majority, the minority will remain competitive. (Disclosure: Mayors Against Illegal Guns, co-founded by New York Mayor and Bloomberg LP owner Michael Bloomberg, supports gun regulation and backed both candidates in the Colorado race.)