Poll: More Americans Oppose ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban than Support It

A poll conducted by Monmouth University finds that more Americans oppose an “assault weapons” ban than support implementing one.

The poll was conducted March 16-20, 2023, and fielded responses from 805 adults age 18 and older.

According to the poll, 46 percent of respondents support banning “assault weapons,” while 49 percent oppose it.

Support for the ban is down considerably from June 2022, when 55 percent of respondents were in favor.

Monmouth also asked respondents their opinions on implementing a law that would treat private sales like retail sales, requiring a background check for both points of sale. Eighty-one percent of respondents supported this idea.

However, the poll did not clarify that nearly every high-profile mass shooter of the past 16 years acquired his or her firearms via retail, which includes passing a background check. (Two exceptions to this are the December 11, 2012, Clackamas Town Center attacker and the December 14, 2012, Sandy Hook Elementary School attacker. Both of those attackers stole their guns, so no amount of point-of-sale gun control would have stopped them.)

Monmouth then asked if a U.S. President “should be able to order background checks for gun purchases by executive order or should this only be done by an act of Congress?”

Sixty-four percent of respondents said this should only be done by an act of Congress.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.