One consequence of the success of the National Rifle Association's expansive gun-rights agenda — and its lobbying power in Congress — is that groups favoring more gun control have pared down their ambitions in recent years.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, for instance, no longer talks about banning handguns. Advocates have moved away from the term "gun control" in favor of more specific language like "gun violence" and "gun safety." Democratic leaders in Congress have grown timid about proposing significant new restrictions on gun ownership.

In that context it's a bit of a jolt to read this adjacent op-ed by retired Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens titled "Repeal the Second Amendment." Stevens is something of an expert on the issue, having considered the proper scope of the Second Amendment in the 2008 case District of Columbia vs. Heller.

But public-opinion polling shows it would take a lot of persuading to bring the public around to that view. In February, for instance, the Economist and YouGov asked Americans whether they supported a repeal of the Second Amendment. Just 21 percent said they favored such a proposal, compared to 60 percent in opposition.

The poll does, however, show surprisingly robust support for Second Amendment repeal (39 percent) among Democrats (by contrast just 8 percent of Republicans would support a full repeal). Blacks (30 percent) and Northeasterners (28 percent) also showed relatively high levels of support. One caveat is that other polls have shown that many Americans do not know what the Second Amendment actually is.

Beyond that, the poll showed that a plurality of Americans do not see the Second Amendment as something set in stone. Forty-six percent said they favored modifying the Second Amendment to allow for stricter regulations, compared to 39 percent who were opposed. Over three-quarters of Democrats said they supported modifying the Second Amendment, as did more than one-quarter of Republicans.

Christopher Ingraham writes about politics, drug policy and all things data. He previously worked at the Brookings Institution and the Pew Research Center.

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