A new study out by the polling firm found that while support for new gun control laws has risen since the Sandy Hook shootings, a plurality of Americans see no need for new laws. Add that with the people who want looser regulations and you have almost half of America.
According to Gallup’s findings:
In the aftermath of the Newtown, Conn., school shootings, and as Vice President Joe Biden leads a federal task force that will recommend ways to curb gun violence in the U.S., 38% of Americans are dissatisfied with the nation’s gun laws and want them strengthened. This is up from 25% who held this set of views a year ago, and is the highest since 2001. Still, more Americans are either satisfied with current gun laws, 43%, or think they should be loosened, 5%. (Emphasis added.)
That’s down from last year, when the split was 50-25-8 percent a year ago in favor of the current laws.
The poll also notes that the switch has occurred most strongly among Democrats. Gallup notes that one year ago, 42 percent of Democrats said they were dissatisfied with the existing gun control laws. Now that number is 64 percent. But only 18 percent of Republicans and 31 percent of independents are also dissatisfied today, up from 12 and 21 percent, respectively.
Republicans and gun control opponents should not take too much comfort in this though. It is possible that gun control is causing more people to identify as Democrats. That would be a good subject for another Gallup poll.
