GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- Two separate events -- one in Pennsylvania, the other in Michigan -- have once again focused attention on issues and opinions involving gun ownership, and on the laws regarding gun usage and gun registration. A six-year-old girl was shot and killed in Mount Morris Township in Michigan Tuesday and, in a separate incident Wednesday, two people were killed and three others wounded during a shooting spree in suburban Pittsburgh.
Gallup polls conducted in 1999 and 2000 show that approximately a third of Americans own guns. A majority of Americans, 66%, believe that laws covering the sale of firearms should be made stricter. When asked about the control of gun violence, 41% of the public believe that stricter enforcement of current gun laws is enough to reduce violence, while 47% believe that new gun laws are needed. Almost three-quarters of Americans -- 73% -- favor the registration of all handguns. A majority favors holding parents legally responsible for felonies involving guns committed by their children.
For a complete look at Gallup's trends on America's opinions about guns and gun laws, see https://www.gallup.com/poll/topics/Guns.asp.
