The latest
Washington-Post/ABC
poll on gun laws shows what polls have been showing for three months: A majority of Americans back stricter measures to control who can buy a gun and what kind, and they are close to evenly split on whom they trust more on gun control—President Barack Obama or Republicans. That's a bit contradictory since most congressional Republicans oppose passing any new gun-control laws and Obama has proposed several.
The Post/ABC poll also shows what previous ones have: 42 percent of Americans said they live in a household where there are firearms even though they may not personally own one. There's a strong gender and partisan difference on that: 48 percent of men live in a gun-owning household, while only 36 percent of women do; 62 percent of Republicans said they live in households that have guns, while only 26 percent of Democrats said so. That's a match for the most recent survey released by the Pew Research Center for People & the Press. In that poll, 31 percent of Republicans said they personally own a firearm; only 16 percent of Democrats said they do.
In reply to Pew's question, Why do you own a gun?, 48 percent of those surveyed said "protection," 32 percent "hunting," seven percent "target shooting." That is a huge shift from 1999 when the same question found only 26 percent owning guns for protection and 49 percent for hunting. Please continue reading below the fold to see the replies to other questions in the two polls.
When it comes to enacting stricter gun control laws, Americans see both pros and cons. Most (58%) worry that new laws would make it more difficult for people to protect their homes and families. Roughly the same number (54%) say stricter laws would reduce the number of deaths caused by mass shootings.
Gun owners and non-gun owners have fundamental disagreements over the effectiveness of new gun laws. Two-thirds (66%) of those who live in households that do not have guns say stricter gun laws would reduce the number of deaths in mass shootings, compared with just 35% of gun owners.
The
Post/ABC poll asked those surveyed
Would you support or oppose a law requiring background checks on people buying guns at gun shows? The response was consistent with every poll asking a version of this question since the Dec. 14 Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school slaughter. Ninety-one percent said they would support such a law, 95 percent of Democrats and 87 percent of Republicans. The universal background check legislation under consideration would mandate that all private gun sales or other transfers (except among family members) would require a background check, not just those sold at gun shows. Currently, such checks are mandated only for sales made through a federally licensed dealer.
In reply to Would you support or oppose a law requiring nationwide ban on the sale of assault weapons?, 57 percent said they would support, 42 percent would oppose. On this, there was a sharp difference of partisan opinion: 77 percent of Democrats and 53 of independents would support, but only 43 percent of Republicans would.
Fifty percent of respondents said they would support and 48 percent oppose "placing an armed guard in every school in the country." There was a modest partisan split on this question as well.
Among several other questions, the extensive Pew poll asked whether new gun laws would give the government too much power and/or make it more difficult for people to protect their families. Unsurprisingly, gun owners answered in the affirmative (68 percent and 64 percent respectively). But even 55 percent of the people who don't own guns said they think new laws might make protection more difficult and 49 percent said the laws would give the government too much power.
At the same time, 47 percent of all adults, 51 percent of gun owners, 41 percent of those living in households with guns that they don't own and 45 percent of non-gun owners said gun-control measures will eventually lead to stronger measures being passed to take away guns.