The latest Gallup poll shows strong support for more restrictions on guns sales among Democrats and non-gun owners, and increasing support among Independent voters.
At the same time, the poll shows dropping support among Republicans and a “near-record” opposition to gun control proposals like a handgun ban.
The poll was taken October 7-11, roughly a week after Chris Harper Mercer attacked Umpqua Community College with guns he obtained “legally.”
According to Gallup, 77 percent of Democrats support greater restrictions on gun sales and 64 percent of non-gun owners support greater restrictions as well. A majority of Independents–56 percent–expressed support for greater restrictions at point of sale as well.
Against these numbers stand Republicans–whose party controls the House and Senate–and whose support for more restrictions at the point of sale fell 2 percentage points between 2014 and now. Only 27 percent of Republicans support more restrictions on guns at the point of sale.
The Gallup poll also revealed that 43 percent of Americans “have a gun in their house or own their property” and that support for a ban on handguns “has been generally declining” since 1959.
In 1959 a full 60 percent of the American people supported a handgun ban. The number of Americans who support such a ban now has fallen to 27 percent.
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