pew research on gun control

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Polling is clear: Americans want gun control

Politicians diverge from voters when it comes to preventing gun deaths.

by Rani Molla

The massacre of children at an elementary school in Texas is adding fresh urgency to the conversation about gun control in the United States, which has been politically fraught and lacking in progress. That’s not because of a lack of support for gun control. That support just needs a little bit of parsing.

To be clear: Americans’ views about guns are complicated, and vary significantly by political party and geography. Overall, the vast majority of Americans support the right for private citizens to own guns, and more than 40 percent of households own at least one firearm. That doesn’t mean they’re against tighter rules on their guns. Nearly three-quarters of Americans think that gun violence is a big or moderately big problem, according to a survey last year by Pew Research Center . And a majority of Americans think that the epidemic of school shootings could be stopped with drastic changes in legislation, according to a poll this week by YouGov .

Still, when Americans are asked broadly if they support stricter gun laws, their opinions volley back and forth, and it’s hard to see a consistent majority. Slightly more than half (52 percent) of Americans in a Gallup poll last year said laws regarding firearms sales should be stricter — a number that has actually gone down in recent years — and a Quinnipiac poll last year found that just under half (45 percent) support stricter gun laws. More recently, a Politico/Morning Consult poll last week found that 59 percent of registered voters think it’s very important (41 percent) or somewhat important (18 percent) for lawmakers to pass stricter gun laws.

But these might not be the right things for pollsters to be asking. That’s because of how drastically existing gun laws vary state by state.

“The thing about those sort of generic questions: Somebody in Vermont can say yes and someone in California can say no, and they favor the exact same thing,” Chris Poliquin, an assistant professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, who studies gun legislation after mass shootings, told Recode.

When asking Americans about their opinions on more specific gun policies, the results are clearer. A vast majority of Americans supports universal background checks, keeping people with serious mental health issues from buying guns, bans on assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, and so-called “red flag laws” that would allow police and family members to seek court orders to temporarily take guns away from those considered a risk to themselves and others. A majority of Americans, of both political parties, oppose carrying concealed weapons without a permit.

In the wake of tragedies like last week’s Uvalde, Texas, mass shooting , in which 19 children and two teachers were murdered at an elementary school, there have always been calls for stricter national gun legislation, but those measures rarely pass and are often very modest when they do pass. That said, federal gun laws — which are much more popular among Democrats than Republicans — remain a particularly high priority, since many of the guns used in crimes come from states with looser gun laws .

There’s much more action at the state level, but it doesn’t typically end with progress. Poliquin’s research found that state legislatures consider 15 percent more firearm bills in the year after a mass shooting, although the existence of more bills doesn’t typically lead to stricter gun laws . In fact, Republican legislatures pass more gun-related legislation in the wake of mass shootings — but they’re laws that make gun laws less strict.

America’s increased polarization makes things difficult .

“A lot of those [gun control measures] are actually supported in the abstract by gun owners, but often not in practice,” Matthew Lacombe, an assistant professor at Barnard and author of Firepower: How the NRA Turned Gun Owners into a Political Force, told Recode . “ So people have a particular issue stance, but then that issue becomes salient and Democratic and Republican politicians start taking clear stances on it. And then people’s views tend to fall into line to match their partisan outlooks.”

Part of the issue is that Americans have somewhat conflicting stances on gun control. But what’s a bigger problem is that even when a majority of Americans agree, a simple majority of lawmakers agreeing on a bill is not enough to pass laws in our country. The Senate filibuster lets a minority of states — and Americans — veto national policy that the majority of Americans want. The result is a minority of people making the laws for the majority of Americans, regardless of what the population at large thinks.

Background checks

Background checks are by far the least controversial aspect of gun legislation, according to a whole lot of surveys . Roughly 80 to 90 percent of Americans support universal background checks, which would mean all sellers would have to verify that a person doesn’t have a history of violent crime or domestic abuse before they can buy a gun. As Robin Lloyd, managing director of the gun control advocacy group Giffords, put it, “Background checks on every gun sale polls higher than people who support ice cream.”

That overwhelmingly broad support, however, has not led to sweeping national requirements for background checks. There are currently laws requiring extended background checks for all people who buy guns in 21 states , but federal law only covers sales between federally licensed dealers. That means there’s a loophole in which about a fifth of gun sales — sold privately, online, and at gun shows — are done without that oversight. Even states that have expanded laws suffer from an influx of guns from those that don’t.

Of course, many mass shooters would have no trouble passing a background check. The 18-year-old Uvalde shooter, for instance, legally purchased his guns. The Buffalo shooter bought his guns legally . The Parkland shooter did . The list goes on . Still, according to a 2020 study , the odds of mass shootings are 60 percent lower in states with laws requiring permits for firearms — and, by extension, background checks.

Notably, many of these killers are young and don’t yet have a record. After the Parkland shooting in 2018, there was massive support for raising the legal age for buying a firearm from 18 to 21. Universal background checks are one of those rare issues that both Republicans (70 percent) and Democrats (92 percent) support, but partisanship in other areas keeps it from going anywhere. Republican senators would have to cross the aisle to vote for gun control laws — a move that would likely hurt them in their state primaries.

The Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021 , or HR 8, which would close the background check loophole, was sketched out in rough form after the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre a decade ago. Despite lawmakers from both sides of the aisle signaling support for such bills, these bills have repeatedly passed the House only to languish in the Senate .

Red flag laws

Americans overwhelmingly support red flag laws, otherwise known as extreme risk protection orders, which work similarly to restraining orders. Again, these laws allow police and family members to petition a court — which would determine whether there’s enough evidence to do so — to temporarily keep guns from people who might be a threat to themselves or others. Some 77 percent of Americans think that a family member should be able to petition a court to do this, while 70 percent think police should, according to a survey by APM Research Lab .

And this approach to gun control has been gaining traction in recent years. A number of states adopted such laws following the Parkland, Florida, shooting , in which the gunman, like many mass shooters , displayed obvious red flags. (An acquaintance said he’d introduce himself, “ Hi, I’m Nick. I’m a school shooter. ”) Some say the red flag approach might be less controversial with gun owners, specifically, because it seems like common sense.

For red flag laws to be useful, they have to be used

“Red flag laws are promising because they’re specifically targeted at people or cases or instances in which there’s reason to believe that there might be a problem,” Lacombe said. “So it’s not like a blanket rule that treats gun owners like a particular class of citizen.”

Of course, for red flag laws to be useful, they have to be used. If police had decided to seek such an order against the shooter in the Buffalo supermarket earlier this month, who had been referred to police for threatening violence , 10 gun deaths could have been prevented. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has since announced an executive order that would compel police to do so.

Mental health restrictions

There’s also overwhelming support on both sides of the aisle ( 85 percent of Republicans and 90 percent of Democrats ) for stopping those with mental illness from buying a gun. But in the case of gun sales that happen through a licensed dealer, that’s supposed to already be happening (though the same loopholes occur for online and private sellers). If a court has had someone involuntarily committed or otherwise determined that they are incapable of managing their life, that person is not supposed to be able to buy a gun, since they should be flagged by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) database.

In practice, that has not always happened.

After a student with a documented history of court-ordered mental health treatment shot and killed 32 students and faculty at Virginia Tech in 2007, there was a major push to make sure state-level records were entered into NICS. George W. Bush signed the NICS Improvement Act into law in 2008, but it still had huge holes where relevant state and federal records were not uploaded to the database . Some of those were remedied by the Fix NICS Act that was signed into law in 2018, but the system is far from perfect.

Additionally, mass shooters generally wouldn’t be considered to have mental illness severe enough to show up in the federal gun database in the first place.

“There’s sort of this perception about mass shooters that they are severely mentally ill people,” Poliquin said. “Although they might have mental health issues, the level of mental health issues doesn’t necessarily lead to institutionalization.”

Additionally, there’s a lot of debate over mental health and mass shooting coming from Republicans that might be in bad faith. It’s not as though Americans have a higher rate of mental health problems than other countries — what makes the US exceptional is the number of guns in the country and the corresponding number of gun deaths.

“I’m not aware of any instance in which a Republican saying that this is really a mental health issue has actually then come forward with a proposal to invest additional resources in our public health and mental health infrastructure, which I think sends a signal just how serious they are,” Lacombe said.

Assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines

Bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines have an approval rating of over 60 percent in the US, according to Pew .

Assault weapons are a poorly defined class of firearms, but generally refer to military-style semi-automatic weapons. High-capacity magazines are generally ammunition clips that hold more than 10 rounds. AR-15s, the preferred style of weapon in recent mass shootings, are assault weapons, which can be modified to accept a number of after-market parts, including high-capacity magazines, that make it even deadlier.

While it has majority support, banning assault weapons is much more divided by political party. While 83 percent of Democrats approve of banning assault-style weapons, just 37 percent of Republicans do; 83 percent of Democrats would like a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines compared with 41 percent of Republicans.

Assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, both of which allow murderers to kill more people in a short span of time, used to be illegal in the US. A federal law passed in 1994 banned assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, but Congress let the legislation lapse in 2004. Even though the 1994 law had its issues — it didn’t make illegal or confiscate the 1.5 million assault weapons and 25 million large-capacity magazines that Americans already owned — the bans did significantly reduce death tolls while they were in effect .

“After that, we’ve just seen like an explosion of assault weapons all across the country,” Lloyd said, estimating the number to be in the tens of millions.

Bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines have an approval rating of over 60 percent in the US

Cassandra Crifasi, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said gun laws should go beyond simply listing which specific guns are restricted or not by making it harder to get deadly gun accessories.

“In response to some of these bans, you can buy a rifle that falls into the approved list, and then you can find accessories online or at gun shows that allow you to customize it and then it may become in violation of the ban,” she said. “Once you have the rifle, if you can then buy those accessories after-market, you can skirt around the ban.”

The Buffalo shooter, for example, purchased his AR-15-style gun legally but modified it to accept a large-capacity magazine that is illegal in New York.

However it’s defined, Lloyd says, limiting guns, ammo, and accessories would limit the extent of gun violence in mass shootings.

“It is impossible to ignore the fact that assault weapons are extremely dangerous because of how many people they can kill in such a short amount of time,” she said, referring to the death tolls in Buffalo and Uvalde.

There is proposed legislation, including the Keep Americans Safe Act ( HR 2510 / S 1108 ), that would ban high-capacity magazines, and the Assault Weapons Ban of 2021 , which would ban military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. All of these bills have been introduced but not voted on, and thanks to the filibuster, would be unlikely to pass without a lot more Republican support.

Concealed carry

Though it varies by party, the vast majority (81 percent) of Americans oppose laws that would allow people to carry concealed handguns without a permit, according to a recent poll this month by Marquette Law School . And generally, support for the wider ability to carry guns — in schools, without permits — has been declining, according to Crifasi.

At the same time, laws allowing people to carry weapons in public have become much more commonplace in the last decade. The effort, however, began decades before in the 1980s as the NRA, beginning in Florida, sought to get states to slowly roll back their concealed carry laws from something that was a special dispensation to something that was expected as a way for gun owners to express their Second Amendment rights. Just last year, the Texas legislature passed a law making it so that people no longer need a license or training to carry a handgun .

“The NRA put forth a pretty strategic, organized, and concerted effort to change state laws, one state at a time,” Lacombe said. “As it became increasingly normalized to be in the law, voters also became more likely to see it as acceptable.”

The thinking behind these Republican and NRA talking points is that having a concealed weapon would allow the “good guys” to take down the bad guys. In practice, that doesn’t actually happen . Though there are a handful of anecdotes in which a person with a concealed weapon successfully stops a mass shooter, adding more guns to the mix is more dangerous . To wit: a man who stopped a mass shooter with his concealed weapon last year in Colorado, only to be mistakenly shot and killed by police .

As the conceal carry issue shows, gun policy reflects the influence of NRA lobbyists more than everyday Americans.

“We have an exceptionally powerful gun lobby that works on behalf of gun manufacturers to make it easy for gun dealers and gun manufacturers to sell a lot of guns really easily,” Crifasi said. “And many of our elected officials are more beholden to the gun lobby than they are to their own constituents.”

Many of the gun control ideas above are part of kitchen table discussions being had right now across the country, as Americans mourn yet another senseless tragedy at the hands of a mass shooter. Specific gun control measures have bipartisan support and could go a long way toward stopping the next mass shooting before it happens.

Unfortunately, what Americans want is not being reflected in America’s laws. The ability of the minority in small, mostly rural, and mostly white communities to outweigh the majority has vast repercussions for the way we live and the way we die. The Senate filibuster is undermining democracy, and in turn is undermining the American government’s legitimacy . It’s possible tragic events like the one last week in Texas could help turn the tide, but for now. tide-turning would require support from Republican lawmakers that actually matches the desires of their Republican constituents.

For that to change, Republicans in addition to Democrats will have to vote out politicians whose stances on guns don’t align with theirs. If not, these conversations begin and end at the kitchen table.

Clarification: Changed mentions of “assault rifles” to “assault-style weapons” to reflect the language used in Pew’s polling.

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National Survey of Gun Policy

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Americans broadly agree on numerous gun violence prevention policies, according to new survey data.

A 2023 nationally representative public opinion survey from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions found broad agreement among Americans for gun violence prevention policies—regardless of their political affiliation or whether or not they own guns.

The Johns Hopkins National Survey of Gun Policy has tracked Americans’ support of gun policies every two years since 2013. Despite portrayals by politicians, lobbyists, and the media of gun policy as controversial and starkly divided, survey results show that a majority of Americans support gun policies that have proven effective at or show promise for reducing gun violence.

81% of Americans support...

prohibiting a person subject to  a temporary domestic violence restraining order  from having a gun for the duration of the order.

Support for this policy increased by more than two percentage points overall since 2021.

Domestic violence protection orders (DVPOs) —sometimes referred to as domestic violence restraining orders—are civil court orders to protect victims and survivors of domestic abuse, including dating partners. Federal law prohibits anyone subject to a DVPO from purchasing or possessing firearms.

• Gun owners and non-gun owners alike largely support prohibiting firearm access in these situations, at 79.2% and 81.7%, respectively.
• Over the past 10 years, support among American adults for restricting people under DVPOs from owning a gun has remained near or above 80%.
• Research shows that the stronger the DVPO protections, the clearer the life-saving benefits. DVPOs that require firearm removal are associated with a  12% reduction in intimate partner homicide .

76% of Americans support...

allowing family members to ask the court to temporarily remove guns from a relative who they believe is at risk of harming themselves or others. 

An  extreme risk protection order (ERPO)  is a civil order with due process protections issued by a court when someone is at risk of violence (including suicide and assault). 

Law enforcement—and family or household members, depending on a state’s ERPO law—may petition the court to temporarily restrict a person’s access to firearms when they are believed to be at elevated risk of harming themselves or others.

“ERPOs and DVPOs are two examples of how we are using evidence to inform intervention and implementation strategies to improve the lives of families and communities throughout the country,” says  Shannon Frattaroli, PhD `99, MPH `94 , professor of Health Policy and Management.

• A vast majority of Democrats (89.7%) support this policy, as do most Republicans (68.5%).
• Gun owners (72.3%) and non-gun owners (78.4%) also largely support this policy.
• ERPOs can also be used to address threats of mass shootings.  A 2022 study  that analyzed nearly 6,800 ERPO cases from six states (CA, CO, CT, FL, MD, WA) found that 10% involved the threat of killing at least three people.

72% of Americans support…

requiring a person to obtain a license from a local law enforcement agency before buying a gun.

Permit-to-Purchase laws , or firearm purchaser licensing, require an individual to apply for and obtain a license before purchasing a firearm. In most states with this policy, the process includes submitting an application to state or local police, getting fingerprinted, undergoing a comprehensive background check, and often involves safety training requirements.

“Requiring a license or permit to purchase a handgun reduces firearm homicides and suicides, as well as trafficking and shootings of law enforcement officers. It is one of the most effective policies we have to reduce gun violence,” says Cassandra Crifasi, PhD `14, MPH, co-director of the Center for Gun Violence Solutions.

• Among gun owners and Republicans, more than half support this policy.
• States with  strong handgun purchaser licensing laws  were associated with 56% lower rates of fatal mass shooting incidents and 67% fewer mass shooting victims.

72% of Americans support...

laws that require a person to lock up the guns in their home when not in use.

“The most quintessential  safe and secure storage  is a gun being unloaded, locked in a gun safe or lockbox, and the ammunition is stored separately,” says Crifasi.

• Research has demonstrated  decreased risk for suicide among adolescents  when guns are stored safely. States with child access prevention laws that require guns to be stored in a safe and secure manner have lower rates of adolescent suicide. Safe and secure firearm storage practices can also help to prevent unintentional gun injuries, homicides, and mass shootings.
• Behavioral interventions —including educational campaigns, and policy interventions, like child access prevention laws—can promote safe and secure storage practices and save lives.
• More than half of gun owners (58.0%) and a large majority of non-gun owners (78.9%) support requiring gun owners to keep firearms locked when not in use. 

69% of Americans support...

funding community-based gun violence prevention programs that provide outreach, conflict mediation, and social support for people at high risk of gun violence.

Several types of  community violence intervention program models  have been used to reduce gun violence through outreach by credible messengers to individuals at highest risk, mediation of disputes that could potentially lead to shootings, promotion of nonviolent responses to conflicts, assistance with social services, and life coaching. 

“Despite the deep challenges faced by communities that have experienced high rates of gun violence, research has shown that investments in targeted and well-implemented public health solutions can save lives and reduce trauma from gun violence,” says Daniel Webster, ScD '91, MPH, Bloomberg Professor of American Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management.

• A majority of gun owners (61.8%) and Republicans (54.4%) support funding for programs that can reduce violence through conflict mediation and other social supports.
• In Oakland, California, a community violence intervention program was associated with a citywide  32% reduction in shootings through 2017  that was concentrated in the areas and groups that were engaged by the program.

Only 23% of Americans support...

allowing a person who can legally own a gun to carry a loaded, concealed handgun in public without having to obtain a concealed carry license .

Concealed carry laws  regulate who can carry a loaded, concealed handgun in public spaces. Permissive open and concealed carry laws are promoted as making it easier for individuals to defend themselves against crime, but these laws have been shown to increase gun violence.

“In general,  violent crime increased  after states loosened concealed carry permitting requirements,” says Mitchell Doucette, PhD '18, assistant scientist in the Department of Health Policy and Management and director of research methods at the Center for Gun Violence Solutions. “Allowing more individuals to carry concealed guns in public—including some who would have previously been denied carry permits due to prior arrests or restraining orders—can increase inappropriate use of firearms in response to interpersonal conflicts, disputes, or other situations.”

• Less than a quarter of Americans supported this policy in survey data collected in  2021  and  2019  as well.

Here’s how you can help push for evidence-based solutions to gun violence

• Learn more about solutions to gun violence that focus on prevention strategies that, if implemented broadly, would significantly reduce gun-related death and injury.
• Contact your elected representatives—at the local, state, and federal levels—to share the results of our public opinion polling on effective solutions to gun violence.
• Share our social media posts about this survey to help inform your family and friends.

Stay up-to-date with the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions

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• Subscribe to the CGVS Newsletter

About the Survey

The 2023 Johns Hopkins National Survey of Gun Policy was fielded from January 4 to February 6, 2023, by  NORC  with funding from the  Robert Wood Johnson Foundation .

The Johns Hopkins National Survey of Gun Policy has tracked Americans’ support of gun policies every two years since 2013. The 2023 survey included 3,096 respondents including 1,002 gun owners and 2,094 non-gun owners. The breakdown by political party affiliation of survey respondents was 730 Republicans, 1,199 Democrats, and 1,163 Independents.

Results from each of the previous year’s surveys can be found at the following links:

• 2021 survey results
• 2019 survey results
• 2017 survey results
• 2015 survey results
• 2013 survey results

This page was originally published on June 2, 2023, and revised on July 21, 2023.

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Pew: Partisan Divide On Gun Ownership, Bipartisan Support On Background Checks

Congress has resisted passing gun control legislation but how does the American public feel? Michael Dimock, president of the Pew Research Center, shares the latest polling with NPR's Rachel Martin.

Copyright © 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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• America’s Complex Relationship With Guns
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Table of Contents

• 1. The demographics of gun ownership
• 2. Guns and daily life: Identity, experiences, activities and involvement
• 3. Views of gun safety and the key responsibilities of gun owners
• 4. Views of guns and gun violence
• Acknowledgments
• Methodology

The public is divided in overall views of gun policy in the United States. Yet large majorities of Americans continue to support a number of specific gun policy proposals, including restrictions on gun sales to the mentally ill and expanded gun background checks.

Attitudes about guns and gun policies divide gun owners and non-owners, Republicans and Democrats, and urban, suburban and rural residents.

Overall, 52% of Americans say gun laws should be stricter than they are today, while nearly as many say they are about right (30%) or should be less strict than they are today (18%).

Americans also differ about who should be able to own guns, where guns should be legally permitted and what types of guns should be legally available.

A majority of Americans (64%) say most people should be able to legally own guns, but some people should not. There is less agreement on the places that guns should be legally permitted and the types of guns that should be legally available.

Most people take a middle-ground approach on both questions: 35% say guns should be permitted in most places, while some places should be off-limits; another 28% say guns should be allowed in some places but not most places.

Similarly, a majority (70%) says that most or some types of guns should be legally available for sale in the U.S.; just 20% say almost all types of guns should be legally available, while only 10% say almost no types should be available.

As in the past, a number of specific gun policy proposals draw extensive public support. About nine-in-ten Americans (89%) favor preventing people with mental illnesses from purchasing guns. Nearly as many favor requiring background checks for private gun sales and at gun shows (84%) and barring gun purchases by people on no-fly or watch lists (83%). Roughly two-thirds or more strongly favor all of these proposals.

Substantial majorities also favor creating a federal government database to track all gun sales (71%), banning assault-style weapons (68%), and banning high-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition (65%).

Proposals for easing gun laws draw much less support. About half say they favor allowing people to carry concealed guns in more places (46%) and allowing teachers and school officials to carry guns in K-12 schools (45%). Even fewer Americans support shortening waiting periods for buying guns legally (36%).

The public is broadly opposed to allowing people to carry concealed guns without a permit: 81% oppose this proposal, with two-thirds strongly opposed. Just 19% favor allowing people to carry concealed guns without a permit.

Gun owners, non-gun owners differ on most policies

Large majorities of gun owners and non-gun owners favor banning gun sales to the mentally ill, expanded background checks on gun sales and barring gun purchases by people on federal no-fly or watch lists. But there is less agreement on other policy proposals, including those that would make it easier to purchase and carry a gun.

Among those who don’t own guns, 80% favor creation of a federal database to track gun sales, 77% back an assault-weapons ban and 74% support a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines. No more than about half of gun owners support any of these policies.

The differences are just as stark regarding proposals for easing gun restrictions. Two-thirds of gun owners favor allowing people to carry concealed guns in more places (67%) and allowing teachers and school officials to carry guns in elementary and secondary schools (66%). These proposals draw support from less than 40% of people who do not own guns.

Other proposals draw less support from both groups, though about half of gun owners (53%) favor shorter waiting periods on gun sales, compared with 29% of non-gun owners. Just a third of gun owners and only 12% of non-gun owners support allowing people to carry guns without a permit.

Partisanship and gun ownership are factors in views of gun policies

Partisan views on gun policy proposals fall along similar lines as the opinions of gun owners and non-gun owners. Large majorities in both parties favor preventing the mentally ill from buying guns (89% each), background checks for private gun sales and gun shows (90% of Democrats, 77% of Republicans), and barring people on federal watch lists from buying guns (85% of Democrats, 82% of Republicans).

Other proposals are much more divisive. For instance, only about a quarter of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (26%) support allowing people to carry concealed guns in more places, compared with 72% of Republicans and Republican leaners. The gap is nearly as wide in support for allowing teachers and school officials to carry guns in schools (26% of Democrats, 69% of Republicans).

Both partisanship and gun ownership are key factors in attitudes about gun policies. On several issues, there are wide differences between Republican and Democratic gun owners – and even larger differences between members of both parties who do not own guns.

Republicans generally are more likely than Democrats to own guns: 44% of Republicans and Republican leaners say they own at least one gun, compared with 20% of Democrats and Democratic leaners. (For more on who owns guns, see Chapter 1 .)

There is broad support among gun owners and non-gun owners in both parties for the bans on gun sales to the mentally ill and people on no-fly or watch lists, as well as for background checks on private gun sales.

But Republican gun owners stand out for their low levels of support for a federal gun database and bans on assault-style weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. Just 43% of Republican gun owners back a federal gun database, 38% favor a ban on assault-style weapons and 32% support banning sales of high-capacity ammunition magazines.

Among Republicans who do not own guns – and Democratic gun owners and non-gun owners – each of these proposals draws majority support.

Overall, more Republicans than Democrats favor proposals to loosen gun control laws; however, this support is significantly stronger among Republican gun owners than among non-owners. Similarly, Democrats are less supportive overall, but Democratic gun owners give these proposals somewhat more support than Democrats who don’t own guns.

A larger share of Republican gun owners support each of the proposals to loosen gun laws than any other group. About eight-in-ten favor allowing concealed carry in more places (82%) and allowing teachers to carry in schools (81%). A smaller majority backs shortening waiting periods to buy guns (61%), and about two-in-five favor concealed carry without a permit (43%).

Majorities of both Democratic gun owners and Republican non-owners have similar attitudes about shortening waiting periods and allowing concealed carry without a permit. These groups are divided on expanding concealed carry to more places and allowing teachers to carry guns in schools: about three-in-five Republicans non-owners favor them, compared with two-in-five Democratic owners – a gap of about 20 percentage points on each.

Democrats who do not own guns are strongly opposed to all of these proposals that would make gun laws less strict: Only about one-in-five support expanding conceal carry, carrying by teachers and shortening waiting periods, and just 9% support concealed carry without a permit.

Rural and urban residents diverge in views of many gun policies

Views on gun policies also vary widely by the types of communities in which people live. Rural residents are generally more skeptical of proposals to toughen gun laws than are people who live in suburban and urban areas. Rural residents also tend to be more supportive of proposals to loosen gun restrictions.

In part, these gaps reflect differences in partisanship and gun ownership in these communities. Rural residents are more likely than urban and suburban residents to identify as Republicans or lean Republican; people who live in rural areas also are more likely to own guns than those in other communities.

Still, majorities of rural, suburban and urban residents favor a federal gun database, expanded background checks and some restrictions on gun sales.

However, 57% of rural residents support allowing people to carry concealed guns in more places. Less than half of those in suburbs (45%) and urban areas (38%) support increased concealed carry. There are similar differences among people in different types of communities in views of allowing teachers and school officials to carry guns in K-12 schools.

About half of Americans favor stricter gun laws

As with views of specific gun policy proposals, opinions about whether gun laws in the U.S. generally should be stricter or less strict are divided by partisanship, gun ownership and community type.

Democrats broadly favor making gun laws stricter than they are today. Three-quarters of Democrats and Democratic leaners – including 78% of non-gun owners and 62% of gun owners – say gun laws in this country should be stricter than they are today.

Republicans and Republican leaners are divided: 46% say current gun laws are “about right,” while 30% say they should be less strict and 24% say they should be stricter.

About half of Republican gun owners (52%) and 40% of Republican non-gun owners say gun laws are about right. More than a third of Republicans who do not own guns (35%) support stricter gun laws in the U.S., compared with just 10% of Republican gun owners. And while 37% of Republican gun owners say gun laws should be less strict, only 24% of Republican non-gun owners say the same.

Another factor in attitudes about the nation’s gun laws is how gun owners and people who do not own guns feel about the prospect of their own future gun ownership. Most people who own guns say they can never see themselves not owning a gun: Among this group, just 18% say gun laws should be stricter. Among the smaller share of gun owners who say at some point they could see themselves not owning a gun, 59% favor stricter gun laws.

Among those who do not currently own guns, about as many say they could see themselves owning a gun at some point as say they could never see themselves owning a gun.

Among non-gun owners who are open to the possibility of owning a gun in the future, 51% favor stricter gun laws. By contrast, 75% of non-gun owners who say they can never see themselves owning a gun back stricter gun laws.

Majority says most people should be able to own guns

Gun owners and non-gun owners hold different views about who should be able to legally own guns, where guns should legally be permitted, and what types of guns should be legally available.

A majority of the public (64%) says that most people, but not all, should be able to legally own guns; however, there is a 24-percentage-point gap between owners and non-owners on this question. Fully 80% of gun owners say most people should be able to own guns, plus another 9% who say almost everyone should be able to. A majority of non-owners say most people should be able to own guns (56%), but about one-third either say that some, but not most, people should be able to own guns (24%) or say that almost no one should be able to own guns (12%).

Some respondents who said most, but not all, people should be able to own guns legally were asked to describe in their own words “what should disqualify someone from being able to legally own guns.” Many gun owners and non-owners said people with mental health issues should be disqualified, as well as those who have felony convictions or histories of violent behavior.

Greater differences emerge between owners and non-owners on the places guns should be allowed and what types of guns should be available.

A majority of gun owners say people should be able to carry guns at least most places, while non-owners are more divided on the issue. About twice as many gun owners (34%) than non-owners (15%) say people should be able to carry guns almost everywhere. Conversely, four times more non-owners (20%) than gun owners (5%) say people should be able to carry almost nowhere.

Some who said people should be able to carry guns most, but not all, places were asked “what are some of the places … people should not be able to legally carry guns?” Many mentioned crowded public places, schools, movie theaters and places that serve alcohol.

The share saying almost all types of guns should be legally available (36%) is higher among gun owners as well. Far fewer non-owners say this (12%). About twice as many non-gun owners (34%) as gun owners (15%) say some, but not most, types of guns should be available.

Those who said most, but not all, types of guns should be legally available were asked to share, in their own words, “What are some of the types of guns you think should not be legally available to buy?” These respondents frequently mentioned military-style weapons – though definitions of what constitutes “military style” differed considerably. Some people mentioned semiautomatic or automatic rifles, such as AK-47s, while others mentioned more powerful military equipment such as missiles, explosives, tanks and fighter aircraft.

Supporters of less strict gun laws more likely to contact elected officials

While relatively few people have ever contacted public officials about guns (15%) or given money to organizations taking positions on the issue (16%), gun owners are more politically engaged on gun issues than other Americans.

Gun owners are more likely than non-gun owners to say they have ever contacted public officials to express their opinion on gun policy: 21% of owners say they have done this, including 9% who say they did so in the past 12 months, while only 12% of non-owners say they have ever done this.

Furthermore, those who think gun laws should be less strict are more likely to contact public officials on the issue (22% have ever done so), compared with those who think gun laws should be stricter (15%) or are about right (10%). This gap increases further among gun owners: About as many gun owners who want less strict laws (19%) have contacted officials in the last year as owners who want stricter laws have ever contacted officials (20%).

A larger share of gun owners contribute money to organizations that take positions on gun policy (28% have ever done so and 12% have in the last year) than non-owners (10% ever and 6% in the last year).

Public split over protecting right to own guns or controlling gun ownership

The public is closely divided over whether it is more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns or to control gun ownership. In a nationally representative Pew Research Center survey conducted April 5 to 11, 2017, among 1,501 adults over 18, 51% said it was more important to control gun ownership and 47% said protecting the right to own guns is more important  (see long term trends on the public’s views about guns ).

These attitudes have been mostly stable over the past eight years – with the public about evenly divided between protecting gun rights and controlling ownership.

Attitudes on which is more important have shifted about 5 points since last August, however. Then, 52% said it was more important to protect gun rights, compared with 46% who said it was more important to control gun ownership.

Republicans and Democrats remain widely divided over the importance of protecting the right of Americans to own guns. About three-quarters of Republicans and Republican leaners (76%) say protecting gun rights is more important, compared with about a quarter of Democrats and Democratic leaners (22%).

The gap between the two parties has increased significantly since 2000, when there was an 18-percentage-point gap between Republicans and Democrats. Today there is a 54-point gap.

Public divided over the National Rifle Association’s influence on gun laws

The public is divided over whether the National Rifle Association (NRA) has too much influence or the right amount when it comes to gun laws in this country: 44% say it has too much and 40% say the right amount. Another 15% say it has too little influence.

Compared with gun owners, adults who do not own guns are more likely to say the NRA has too much influence. Half of non-owners say the NRA has too much influence and just 34% say the right amount. About half of gun owners (53%) say the NRA has the right amount of influence and 29% say it has too much. Few in either group say it has too little (17% among gun owners and 14% among non-owners).

There are bigger differences in the way the NRA is viewed among Republicans and Democrats. Two-thirds of Democrats and Democratic leaners say the NRA has too much influence; only 15% of Republicans and Republican leaners say the same. About two-thirds of Republicans say it has the right amount of influence, compared with 21% of Democrats.

A similar share of Republican gun owners and non-owners say the NRA has the right amount of influence (67% of owners and 62% of non-owners). Democrats tend to see the NRA similarly, regardless of whether they personally own a gun: 60% of Democratic gun owners say the NRA has too much influence; 67% of Democrats without a gun say the same.

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