Government Gets Poor Marks on Protecting Gun Rights

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new poll finds that a growing number of Americans are questioning the federal government's stewardship of the right to bear arms.

When Americans were asked how the government is doing on protecting a variety of rights spelled out in the Bill of Rights and federal law, they pointed to slippage almost everywhere. But the slide was most dramatic on guns and voting rights.

According to the poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 44 percent of Americans think the government is doing a good job safeguarding the right to keep and bear arms. That's down from 57 percent two years earlier. Republicans and independents were far more likely than Democrats to give the government poor marks for protecting gun rights.

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