You can certainly find surveys, including from reputable pollsters, in which 80 percent or 90 percent of respondents say they support universal background checks. But when the idea has gone to a vote, it has performed worse than the polls suggest. In Nevada, a 2016 ballot measure to strengthen background checks got a little more than 50 percent support — barely enough to pass. In Maine, another measure that year lost with 48 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton carried both of those states in the 2016 election. I would love to believe that nearly every American supports stricter gun laws. It doesn’t seem to be true.