Poll: Americans Remain Split on Gun Control

CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.

CBS

In the aftermath of mass shootings in Tucson, Arizona this month, Americans remain split on the issue of gun control, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll.

The survey finds that Americans have moved slightly in favor of stricter laws in light of the incident, in which six were killed and fourteen wounded when gunman Jared Loughner allegedly opened fire at a political event outside of an Arizona supermarket.

The poll finds that 46 percent of Americans think gun laws should be made stricter, while 38 percent want them to stay the same. Thirteen percent said they thought gun control laws should be made less strict.

In a similar poll conducted in April 2010, 40 percent of Americans thought gun laws should be made tougher, while 42 percent wanted them to stay the same. Sixteen percent wanted them to be made less strict.

Public support for a nationwide ban on assault weapons has risen. Sixty-three percent of voters said they would support such a ban, up from 54 percent in 2009.

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Even those who live in gun-owning households favor a ban on assault weapons, the poll finds, although by a smaller margin than with the rest of the population: 54 percent of those Americans favor a ban on assault weapons, and 44 percent oppose such a ban.

The survey also indicates that nearly two in three Americans favor a ban on high capacity clips that can hold dozens of rounds like the ones used in the Arizona shootings. Sixty-three percent favor a ban on such clips (including 58 percent of gun-owning households), while 34 percent oppose it.

And while there are partisan differences on many of these questions, with Democrats more supportive of tougher gun laws than Republicans, half of Republicans also favor a ban on assault weapons and on high capacity magazines.

Americans remain largely opposed to an outright ban on handguns, however: Sixty-five percent of Americans oppose such a ban, while only 32 percent support one. Public opinion on that matter has stayed relatively consistent since 2000.

As would be expected, Americans who live in households with a gun are less supportive of a ban on the sale of all handguns: Just 18 percent of them say they favor a ban, while 81 percent say they are opposed.

Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of New York officially unveiled a bill on Tuesday that would ban the sale of high-capacity magazines, and mandate that clips sold in the United States allowed for no more than ten rounds. (The clip allegedly used by Loughner, which became legal when Congress allowed the assault weapons ban to expire in 2004, held up to 33 rounds.)

Read the Complete Poll

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This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,036 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone January 15 - 19, 2010. Phone numbers were dialed from RDD samples of both standard land-lines and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.

This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

[nofile404]

@StewieEsq:

Right in one, SE. I'm retired LE myself. I served as a departmental firearms instructor, and special weapons officer. Based on my experience with the average firearms proficiency of LE personnel [excepting special weapons officers, and a small percentage of the rest]I wouldn't like to think about the outcome of that scenario had MORE folks been carrying.
There was one civilian on scene who was carrying. He realized in the confusion he couldn't tell who the threat was - and re-holstered the weapon. I commend him for the wisdom to have done so.
This is Arizona - remember Arizona? Arizona, which has removed almost all limitations on carrying a concealed weapon/firearm. Only persons under 21, and prohibited possessors [convicted felons who haven't had their civil rights restored] cannot carry concealed. No requirement for training, no other qualification whatsoever. The idea of an untrained, unqualified "hero" rushing to the rescue spraying rounds, does not fill me with confidence in my fellow 'Zonans.
How do I feel about civilian possession? I'm a civilian now, I have firearms, I intend to continue to do so.
One last note ... I see lots of slurs getting thrown up here. I find it disconcerting that rational discussion - and debate - has deteriorated into name calling. I must be unusual here ... inasmuch as I'm able to hold political views on issues that are not dictated by one shill or another, that are even at times divergent to my basic political philosophy. A suggestion, if you will ... take up a reference work, look up the definitions of the terms you - or others - sling about. You may find that the "slings and arrows" you cast are not, in fact, the ones you mean.

[dagrandma]

A lot of people don't believe in owning guns -- till they're robbed. A lot of people don't believe in abortion -- until their 15 year old daughter gets pregnant. You'll never take guns away from Americans. You'll never stop women from having abortion. Can we just stop arguing about these issues and concentrate on something else?

[ehurst17]

Well some people need gun control but whats next they are going to try to ban the guns and/or maybe take the guns from the american people no matter even if it goes against our rights. They really don't care about us they only care about the money they make each year because the laws don't affect them at all and even if they did make laws to hurt them they wouldn't pass the bills.

[StewieEsq]

jagans78: "Now if several rational, properly trained people near this guy had been carrying, the outcome may have been a little different."

Yes, there might have been a large firefight with more people shot. The myth is always that, somehow, the "armed" and trained civilian will be able to step up and stop the bad guy. Yet when actual police officers are on scene [and no one can reasonably dispute that they are not armed or trained] any shootout that occurs frequently results in too many shots being fired and too few bullets actally hitting the mark.

People can dispute the methodology of studies that compare homicide rates to gun control, but the fact is that where firearms are present, there is a greater likelihood that death results. Amusing that one would deny a correlation at the same time claiming that the presence of more guns would have resulted in less, or at least a different, death.

[Son_of_Liberty_910]

The actual statistics prove you wrong. Gun ownership has steadily increased in the US for 20+ yrs, and rates of gun related homicides have steadily decreased. There is not a single instance of a civilian citizen standing up to an armed mass killer and harming an innocent bystander. There are at least 3 instances of mass killers shot by or surrendering to gun carrying civilians

[tom_in_fl1]

might i add that there is a hipa law saying anything medical cannot be releassed, but many of you are saying mental patients should be scanned. That will relaese all medical recods and anyone can find out about any medical probems you have ever had Good or bad. Meaning any medical treatment you have had not just mental, and some embarassing. Please dont say justmental because it is still protected info. do you want anyone knowing your history

[bhappy2-2]

Gun control isn't about guns; it's about CONTROL.

[DeloresSmith109]

AMERICANS.
I distrust Obama. He has made the statement that we need a civilian army as well as the military. This was when Acorn was very visible. In my opnion, he is moving toward a dictatorship. I want all Americans to protect themselves, but do not let Obama stir you up. He wants that to enact more control. I live in AZ. This President and George Soros are pure evil. Let's keep the right to bear arms and Obama, buzz off.

[dibbs977]

I have a gun. My husband and sons have guns. We like guns---but we sure need some responsible gun control legislation.

[stygianumbra]

Prove gun control reduces homicides, non-negligent manslaughter, and suicides.

http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jlpp/Vol30_No2_KatesMauseronline.pdf

"This Article has reviewed a significant amount of evidence from a wide variety of international sources. Each individual portion of evidence is subject to cavil-at the very least the general objection that the persuasiveness of social scientific evidence cannot remotely approach the persuasiveness of conclusions in the physical sciences. Nevertheless, the burden of proof rests on the proponents of the more guns equal more death and fewer guns equal less death mantra, especially since they argue public policy ought to be based on that mantra. To bear that burden would at the very least require showing that a large number of nations with more guns have more death and that nations that have imposed stringent gun controls have achieved substantial reductions in criminal violence (or suicide). But those correlations are not observed when a large number of nations are compared across the world."

"In 2004,the U.S. National Academy of Sciences released its evaluation from a review of 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, and some original empirical research. It failed to identify any gun control that had reduced violent crime, suicide, or gun accidents. The same conclusion was reached in 2003 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control's review of then; extant studies."

"Study Shows Brady Bill Had No Impact on Gun Homicides"
http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2003_spr/cook.htm
"Study finds Brady Act ineffective in reducing homicides"
http://dukechronicle.com/article/study-finds-brady-act-ineffective-reducing-homicides
"The Task Force found insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of any of the firearms laws or combinations of laws reviewed on violent outcomes." The CDC is vehemently anti gun and interpreted its results to show not that the
"more guns equal more death" mantra is erroneous, but only that the scores of studies it reviewed were inconclusively done.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5214a2.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr59/nvsr59_02.pdf
This shows that the death rate actually increased at the implementation of the "Brady Bill" in 1993 before returning to a downward trend, which dropped even faster after the 1994 AWB expired in 2004. Mind you it has been steadily declining since 1980.

http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp

Check out all those pretty charts showing less crime after right to carry laws are passed and more after gun bans are passed, references are included.

[tom_in_fl1]

thankyou

[slatep]

I stll want to keep my right to own a firearm.!!