“In U.S., Record-Low Support for Stricter Gun Laws”
Gallup finds a new low of 44% of Americans saying the laws covering firearm sales should be made more strict. That is down 5 points in the last year and 34 points from the high of 78% recorded the first time the question was asked, in 1990.
Today, Americans are as likely to say the laws governing gun sales should be kept as they are now (43%) as to say they should be made more strict. Until this year, Gallup had always found a significantly higher percentage advocating stricter laws. At the same time, 12% of Americans believe the laws should be less strict, which is low in an absolute sense but ties the highest Gallup has measured for this response.
These results are based on Gallup’s annual Crime Poll, conducted Oct.1-4 this year.
The poll also shows a new low in the percentage of Americans favoring a ban on handgun possession except by the police and other authorized persons, a question that dates back to 1959. Only 28% now favor such a ban. The high point in support for a handgun-possession ban was 60% in the initial measurement in 1959. Since then, less than a majority has been in favor, and support has been below 40% since December 1993.
The trends on the questions about gun-sale laws and a handgun-possession ban indicate that Americans’ attitudes have moved toward being more pro-gun rights. But this is not due to a growth in personal gun ownership, which has held steady around 30% this decade, or to an increase in household gun ownership, which has been steady in the low 40% range since 2000.
In light of this data and the trends, it is interesting to speculate whether Heller just represents another example of major modern Supreme Court rulings simply following and reinforcing existing political trends. It is also interesting to speculate whether post-Heller rulings about gun rights and regulations may alter these long-standard trend lines in any significant way.