Gun control activists have been quick to use the shooting on a New York subway as an excuse to call for more laws restricting the right to keep and bear arms, but most voters aren’t buying their argument according to a new poll by Rasmussen.

The outfit’s latest survey of 1,000 likely voters found that 51% of respondents said new gun control laws would not prevent attacks like the one that unfolded in Brooklyn on Tuesday morning. Just 38% disagreed and said that additional gun control laws would be beneficial. The poll’s findings are in line with other recent surveys showing a decided lack of support for new gun control measures, none of which have stopped Democrats from Joe Biden on down from continuing to call for further infringements on our right to keep and bear arms in the nam of public safety.

In fact, in the wake of the subway shooting, groups like Everytown for Gun Safety didn’t even bother to wait until the facts were known to blast out a statement calling for new (and unnamed) restrictions on the Second Amendment.

“While we wait for more information about this terrible shooting, we are reminded that in today’s America, gun violence can strike anywhere and at any time,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “This tragedy underscores the urgency of Everytown’s work to create a future where the specter of gun violence doesn’t loom over everyday activities like getting on the train and heading to work or school.”

“Our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones as we learn more about this unspeakable tragedy,” said Sheffali Welch, a volunteer leader with the New York chapter of Moms Demand Action. “We are once again witnessing the reverberation of gun violence as a New York community moves about their everyday lives — commuting to work or school, meeting friends, running errands. These activities should not make people fear for their lives. While we await more details about this incident, we will continue to work alongside our leaders to end gun violence.”

With empty rhetoric like that, it’s no surprise that fewer Americans are supportive of new restrictions on our right to armed self-defense, but Democrats are so deeply wedded to both the gun control lobby and its anti-gun ideology that there’s no way for the party to easily pivot on the issue between now and November. It’s one thing to go from “defund the police” to “re-fund the police” in a matter of a few months, but the Democrats’ antipathy towards our 2A freedoms has been going on for decades. 

Honestly, I don’t think many voters believe the Dems’ newfound appreciation for putting more cops on the streets is sincere or long-lasting, and my guess is that any attempt to back away from their push for gun prohibition would be an even bigger rebranding failure. As Democratic strategists fret about midterm losses of biblical proportions, the party simply doesn’t have a credible answer when it comes to crime, public safety, and our right to keep and bear arms in self-defense. Their only real argument is that by making it more difficult for the law-abiding to exercise their constitutionally protected rights, criminals will suffer even more. It’s a vapid argument, especially at a time when millions of Americans have embraced their 2A rights for the first time in their lives, but it’s the best one the Democrats have… and it should cost them dearly this November.