The Brief

The McCourtney Institute for Democracy’s latest Mood of the Nation Poll, conducted from May 12-18, 2023, finds that 86% of American adults support U.S. Congress mandating background checks for all firearm sales and transfers.

Nearly three-quarters support Congress requiring gun owners to take a test, obtain a license, and register their firearms, similar to the process of owning an automobile.

A bipartisan majority of Americans supported two of those policies, universal background checks and gun licensing. An assault weapons ban also received majority support, but support and opposition were far more partisan. Nearly half of Americans support eliminating current gun laws and protecting the Second Amendment, also split along party lines.

Partisan agreement on background checks and licensing

Support for universal background checks and gun licensing is bipartisan. Over 90% of Democrats support both provisions, as do a majority of Republicans. Eighty percent of Republicans support universal background checks and 54% support gun licensing.

The other two provisions are split by party: An overwhelming majority of Democrats (90%) support a congressional ban on assault weapons, while a majority of Republicans (59%) oppose it. On the other hand, a majority of Republicans (54%) support eliminating most current gun laws to protect Second Amendment rights, while two-thirds of Democrats are opposed.

Second Amendment supporters’ views on gun policies

It is noteworthy that the three firearm-restricting provisions included in this poll are supported by a majority of those who support eliminating “most current gun laws in order to protect Second Amendment rights.” Among these Second Amendment advocates, 77% support universal background checks, 60% support a testing, licensing and registering process for guns similar to that of automobiles, and 52% support an assault weapons ban.

Increase in Second Amendment support

The firearm-related questions included in this poll were replicated from a 2019 Mood of the Nation Poll. Factoring in the margin of error associated with each survey (±4.3 percentage points in 2019 and ±3.6 percentage points in 2023), the overall level of support for the three gun-restricting measures is unchanged.

There is, however, a statistically significant 10-percentage-point increase in overall support for “eliminating most current gun laws in order to protect Second Amendment rights.”

Since 2019 the annual number of firearm suicides, homicides and mass shootings have all increased. Nevertheless, support for three popular reforms is virtually unchanged.

In their own words

When asked to explain their support for gun policies, survey respondents' answers were wide-ranging. Using a coding rubric developed by the McCourtney Institute following the 2019 poll that used the same questions, it was apparent that responses indicated general support for gun control measures, with some implying that support and others explicitly using those words. For example:

It was not surprising that this was a common theme among those who had indicated support for the three gun control measures included in the poll. Conversely, somewhat surprising is that 9% of those who were asked about their support for eliminating most current gun laws also indicated a “pro-gun control” reason for their support of that provision.

The second most common reason given for supporting a specific gun policy was that it would help to keep guns out of the wrong hands. This reasoning was provided by most of those asked to explain their support for universal background checks. Some examples include:

Those who were asked why they supported “require gun owners to take a test, get a license, and register their firearms just like they do for their automobiles” commonly referred back to the premise of the policy in question, and indicated they supported one or more aspects of the measure. For example:

About one-third of those who were asked to explain their support for an assault weapons ban provided a response that referred to semi-automatic or assault rifles, and about one-quarter specifically noted that these types of firearms are “weapons of war” meant only for combat:

Second Amendment supporters

Perhaps it is not surprising that the most common reasoning given by those who were asked to explain their support for “eliminating most current gun laws in order to protect Second Amendment rights” was support for the Second Amendment. Examples of those responses, given by half of those supporting doing away with most gun laws, include:

Additionally, 20% of those asked to explain their support for doing away with most current gun laws indicated that gun laws do not work. For example:

Another set of explanations for supporting the elimination of most current gun laws had to do with the personal protection and safety that unfettered gun ownership affords:

While the answers given by Second Amendment supporters may seem contradictory, this is not necessarily the case. Arif Memovic, a doctoral student at Penn State University, noted that “most Second Amendment supporters support responsible gun ownership, and many believe that gun control advocates are ignorant about guns and gun culture.” That would be consistent with licensing that encourages education while also being wary about other gun control policies.

A court hearing for Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price got underway Tuesday, with a focus on allegations Price was married to another woman when he collected city health insurance benefits for his wife — which prosecutors say amounted to embezzlement of city funds.

In addition to facing five counts of grand theft by embezzlement of public funds, Price faces four counts of conflict of interest related to votes he took on projects connected to his wife’s business and three counts of perjury by declaration related to allegations he failed to disclose financial interests related to his wife’s business.

Price has pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles County Superior Court. At the end of the preliminary hearing, which is expected to run several days, a judge will be asked to determine whether there’s enough evidence for the case to go to trial.

If convicted on all charges, he faces up to 11 years behind bars.

On Tuesday, prosecutors called an analyst with the city’s Personnel Department to testify and presented him with documents that showed Price placed his current wife Del Richardson on his city-issued healthcare plan from 2013 to 2017, before they were legally married.

Deputy District Attorney Casey Higgins then showed the analyst a 1981 marriage certificate showing Price’s marriage to Suzette Price. The analyst said his office never saw the certificate.

“We most likely would have asked questions,” said Paul Makowski, chief benefits analyst with the city’s Personnel Department.

Prosecutors say Price bilked the city out of tens of thousands of dollars in health benefits for Richardson.

Price has said he thought he was divorced from his wife when he signed Richardson up for the benefit. He and Suzette Price had been separated since 2002. His attorney Michael Schafler noted Price never sought benefits for both women at the same time.

Prosecutors say the conflict of interest and perjury charges relate to Price failing to recuse himself from votes on projects that benefited his wife’s business, which provides relocation services and community engagement on big projects.

For example, the Housing Authority of the city of Los Angeles paid Richardson & Associates more than $600,000 over two years from 2019 to 2020. During that same time, Price voted to support a $35 million federal grant and a state grant application for $252 million for the agency, according to prosecutors.

In addition, LA Metro paid Richardson & Associates about $219,000 over two years from 2020 to 2021. Prosecutors say during that time, Price introduced and voted for a motion to award $30 million to Metro.

Price’s staff allegedly alerted Price about both transactions as potential conflicts of interest, according to prosecutors.

The preliminary hearing is expected to last six days.

Los Angeles officials gathered Tuesday for a media event to launch the county’s newest department. The new entity faces a daunting mandate: solve the region’s deeply entrenched homelessness crisis.

The new L.A. County Homeless Services and Housing department takes the mantle from the embattled regional L.A. Homeless Services Authority, known as LAHSA, which until now has overseen the funding and administration of homeless services across a county where more than 72,000 people experience homelessness on any given night.

County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said transferring responsibilities from LAHSA — a joint powers authority created in 1993 by the city and county of L.A. — to one centralized agency will reduce finger-pointing.

“For a long time, it is LAHSA blames the county, the county blames the city, the city blames LAHSA — we all blame each other,” Barger said. “Accountability now ends with the [Board of Supervisors]. ... The buck is going to stop with us.”

Department launches as volunteers count LA’s unhoused 

The launch coincided with the first day of the region’s homeless count, which is still being overseen by LAHSA. Last year, the county decided to pull hundreds of millions of dollars from LAHSA and entrust that annual funding to the new county department.

The decision came shortly after a series of audits uncovered spending and oversight problems at the agency. Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said she hoped reducing LAHSA’s responsibilities would help the agency better execute its core duties, such as the annual homeless count.

“Now that the focus and scope of what they're doing has been narrowed, hopefully that's where they've been focusing their time, effort and energy,” Horvath said.

Sarah Mahin (center) speaks about the launch of the new county homelessness department she will direct. Standing behind her are L.A. County Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey Horvath.

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David Wagner/LAist

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Revenue for the new department comes from Measure A, the half-cent sales tax voters opted to double from the previous quarter-cent tax in November 2024.

Why sales taxes are up, but overall revenue is down

Despite the increased sales tax revenue, officials say overall funding is down because of federal and state funding losses, plus allocations of sales tax revenue to a separate entity, the L.A. County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency.

The county’s new homelessness department has a $635 million draft spending plan. It comes with proposed cuts of more than 25% to homeless services.

“Cuts are painful for everyone, but we are making thoughtful and responsible decisions,” said Sarah Mahin, the new county department’s director. “We are prioritizing the most vulnerable people and the programs that we know work. And we're actively working with our partners to secure other funding and solutions to fill gaps.”

One program that will see cuts is Pathway Home, which clears encampments and offers residents spots in interim housing. Mahin said spending on the motels that serve as that interim housing will go down, dropping the number of annual encampment clearances involving motels from 30 to 10.

The hearing: At the corner of Wilkins and Kelton avenues, Hale told reporters that his hearing Tuesday lasted just about 10 minutes. According to Hale, the statute of limitations for his charges remains open until Dec. 7, a year after the street safety activist was arrested. “So they can change their mind, and I do risk arrest if I do this again,” Hale said. The hearing had been rescheduled from its original date of Jan. 5.

The crosswalks: Police arrested Hale as he and a group of volunteers, known as People's Vision Zero, were painting the third of four crosswalk legs at the Westwood intersection. As of Tuesday, the city has not repainted, eliminated or finished the crosswalks at the intersection.

One of the four crosswalks at the Westwood intersection where Hale was arrested remains unfinished. Two legs of the crosswalk were completed by Hale and his group before the L.A. police arrested the street safety activist.

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Jonathan Hale

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What’s next: Hale said People’s Vision Zero would continue painting crosswalks if the city does not take concrete steps toward its goal of ending traffic deaths. One way Hale said the city could make progress is by working with his group to create a community-led initiative to paint code-compliant crosswalks.

Dig deeper … into the background on Hale’s arrest.