Support for gun control slips below 50 percent after Senate vote

Fewer than 50 percent of Americans say they support stricter gun controls, according to a survey released Tuesday, the first time since December's Newtown, Conn. elementary school shooting than less than half of those surveyed say they would back a new gun law.

According to the USA Today survey, 49 percent of Americans say they support passing a new gun control law while 45 percent oppose new legislation. That's down from 55 percent who supported new regulations in April and 61 percent in February. 

Last week, Senate Democrats failed to win the 60 votes necessary to move forward on a compromise bill that would have expanded background checks and instituted new penalties on so-called straw purchasers. Senate leaders had already acknowledged they were unlikely to win enough votes on an assault weapons ban or legislation limiting the size of magazine capacities — two suggestions of President Obama's gun violence commission.

Those who support new gun reforms are likely to be disappointed with the Senate's votes. Sixty-one percent of those who support new gun laws say Congress "should only agree to a stronger version of the bill, even if it might not pass," while just three in 10 say they should back a weaker law they know can win approval. Individual measures that comprise the totality of proposed gun control tend to poll higher than the overall bill, although the USA Today survey did not break out specific provisions. A Washington Post / ABC News poll earlier this month found that 86 percent of all Americans backed an expansion of background checks to cover gun shows and online sales.

On Monday, White House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama would "continue to push" for new gun restrictions.

"So the fact is this is hard because there are institutional reasons, there are political reasons, and there are other, I'm sure, personal reasons for why senators chose to vote against the vast majority of the American people," Carney said. "But we will continue to press the case. And this President made clear on Friday that this is just round one of this fight, that this will happen because it's the right thing to do and it's entirely common sense, and it would result in lives being saved."

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Duncan says he misspoke about ‘pink slips’ for teachers ahead of sequester

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Monday he misspoke when he recently claimed schools were already firing teachers in anticipation of sequester cuts taking effect.

"When I said 'pink slips' that was probably the wrong word," Duncan said to reporters, according to multiple reports. "Language matters, and I need to be very, very clear."

The $85 billion in across-the-board spending reductions took effect on Friday after the White House and congressional lawmakers were unable to reach a deal to avert the automatic cuts.

Duncan said last week that a number of school districts around the country had already begun laying off teachers in anticipation to the cuts.

He was one of a number of Cabinet officials, who joined President Obama, in warning of the dire consequences of the cuts taking effect. Republicans, though, countered that the administration was attempting to scare the public in an effort to tilt negotiations over a replacement bill.

Duncan had specifically mentioned the Kanawha County school district in West Virginia as an example of a school that had begun firing staff because of the sequester. 

According to the Washington Post, however, officials in Kanawha County disputed that claim. District administrators said that while the sequester cuts would hurt the country, they would have cut jobs whether or not the sequester was triggered. 

The sequester cuts are unlikely to touch most of the country's school districts. 

On Monday, Duncan walked back his warnings.

"Because I wasn't as clear, the spotlight was put on me and that's never ever my goal," Duncan said according to CNN. 

"My goal here is to have the spotlight be on children and families, so when I said 'pink slips' that was probably the wrong word,” he added. “I should've used 'job eliminations,' 'positions eliminated.'"

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