Support for stricter gun laws diminishing in US

Backing for tighter regulation has hit lowest level since 2014

Support for stricter gun control is diminishing among Americans, a new survey shows.

The US public’s backing for tighter firearms regulation has fallen by five points to 52 per cent, the lowest level since 2014, according to Gallup.

The polling company says that 35 per cent of American adults think gun sales laws should be kept as they are currently, while 11 per cent support less strict laws.

Gallup has been tracking the country’s views on tighter gun control since 1990, when a record high 78 per cent of Americans supported stricter laws.

The company says that American support for increased regulation has generally increased following mass shootings before decreasing.

In the wake of the Parkland school shooting in Florida in 2018, support for gun control increased to 67 per cent, the highest level since 1993.

But support declined by seven per cent in 2020, and fell even further in Gallup’s latest poll, which was taken last month.

Last year’s drop was driven by a 22 per cent decline in support for stricter laws among Republicans, and Gallup says 2021 has seen a 15 per cent decrease in support among political independents.

Currently, only 14 per cent of independents think there should be a ban on handguns, which is a 16 per cent drop since 2019, including a nine point drop since 2020.

Gallup says it surveyed 823 American adults from October 1 to October 19 and reported a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

In a separate gallup poll, a growing number of Americans said they own guns to protect themselves against crime.

The poll found that 88 per cent of respondents said they owned a gun for personal protection, up from 67 per cent in 2005.

Meanwhile, data from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal background Checks System reported that there were more than 39 million firearm background checks done in 2020.

That number was up from less than 30 million firearm background checks done in 2019 and so far in 20201 there have been around 33 million.