A majority of Americans want stricter gun laws.
Nearly six in 10 (55 percent) of American adults want stricter regulations on gun sales, according to a new Gallup crime survey. That’s up 8 percentage from 2014. Just 33 percent say laws should remain the same, while 11 percent want fewer laws.
Despite the high mark, it is still below the 58 percent in 2013 who wanted more gun sale laws following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. This more recent survey was done just days after the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon that left 10 dead.
In 2014, 30 percent of gun owners wanted stricter laws, but that increased to 36 percent. Among non-gun owners, 57 percent wanted tougher laws in 2014, and that also rose, to 64 percent.
Among Republicans, just 29 percent want tougher rules for guns, up from 27 percent last year. That sentiment also rose among Democrats, to 77 percent from 71 percent.
Support for a nationwide ban on handguns for everyone but law enforcement remains low, as it has for the last half century. Just 27 percent would want to ban handguns for civilians, while 72 percent said no to a ban.
The survey of roughly 1,000 American adults was conducted Oct. 7-11, with a margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
