GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- The tragic shooting incident at the Wedgwood Baptist Church in Ft. Worth Texas this week has again underscored the salience of pending Congressional gun control legislation. Here are questions and answers about the key gun control issues from the perspective of the American public, based on recent Gallup polling:
Do Americans want Congress to pass stricter gun control
laws?
Yes. This has been true for some time. In 1990 Gallup began asking
a very basic question: "In general, do you feel that the laws
covering the sale of firearms should be made more strict, less
strict, or kept as they are now?" A majority of Americans have
responded yes to the question each time it has been asked, although
the percentages have changed some. In 1990, 78% said yes. That
number began to drop through the decade, and by February of this
year, a smaller majority -- 60% -- said yes. After the events of
Columbine, the percentage favoring stricter gun control laws went
back up to 66%, and in the most recent asking in August remained at
66%.
How high a priority - politically speaking - is gun
control for Americans?
A majority of Americans say that it is important that Congress pass
gun control legislation, but - at least through this past summer -
it has not been the highest priority. An August poll asked about
the importance the public placed on Congress passing four different
forms of legislation before the end of the year. The results:
| % Saying Extremely or Very Important that Congress Pass by End of Year | |
|---|---|
| HMO Reform | 83% |
| Increased funding for Medicare | 77 |
| Federal Income Tax Cut | 68 |
| Gun control | 65 |
Another poll conducted in July asked how important a variety of issues were to the respondent's Congressional vote, with the following results:
| % Saying Extremely or Very Important in Determining Congressional Vote | |
|---|---|
| Social Security | 84% |
| Health Care, including HMOs | 79 |
| Medicare | 78 |
| Gun Control | 61 |
| Tax Cuts | 60 |
| Campaign Finance Reform | 40 |
In both situations, as can be seen, a majority of Americans say that gun control is important, but that other issues - including Social Security, HMO reform and Medicare, are more important.
Do Republicans differ from Democrats in the perceived need
for gun control?
Yes. Although a majority of all Americans say that passing gun
control legislation is important, there are clear differences based
on party identification. Only fifty-two percent of Republicans say
that passing gun control legislation is extremely or very important
(in the August Gallup poll), compared to 62% of Independents and
80% of Democrats.
Similarly, 57% of Republicans say that gun control laws should be made more strict, while 62% of Independents and 81% of Democrats agree with this stricter alternative. It should be noted that the rest of the Republicans in the sample didn't want the laws to be made less strict, but rather kept as they are.
Do Americans differ in which party they think can do the
best job on gun control issues?
Despite the partisan differences in the perceived importance of
passing gun control legislation, there are not substantial
differences in the perception of which party can do the better job
on gun control, perhaps suggesting that each party's members are
happy with the way in which their party is approaching the topic. A
late June poll showed that 41% of those interviewed said that the
Republican party could do the better job reflecting their views
about gun control, while 44% said the Democratic party could do the
better job.
What exactly do Americans favor in terms of gun control
measures?
Americans pretty much favor most gun control proposals put in front
of them. A June Gallup poll listed 8 different proposals, and a
majority - and in most instances a very substantial majority - said
that they favored each:
| GUN CONTROL PROPOSAL | % Favoring |
|---|---|
| Mandatory prison for felons who commit crimes with guns | 89% |
| Mandatory gun show background checks - including gun dealers | 87 |
| Require safety locks or trigger guards | 85 |
| Raise minimum age for hand gun possession to 21 | 82 |
| Registration of all firearms | 79 |
| Lifetime ban on gun ownership for juveniles convicted of a felony | 77 |
| Ban importing high capacity ammunition clips | 68 |
| Hold parents legally responsible in children commit crimes with parents' guns | 57 |
What about the most draconian measure: banning of all
guns?
Americans do not seem to favor a total ban on gun ownership. A
Gallup poll conducted in 1994 asked respondents to choose between
three alternatives: no restrictions whatsoever on gun ownership,
some restrictions, or making it illegal "for everyone except police
and authorized persons" to own guns. The "some restrictions"
alternative was the overwhelming favorite, with 73% of all choices,
while only 20% chose the total ban option.
Survey Methods
The results above are based on telephone interviews with a randomly
selected national sample of 1,048 adults, 18 years and older,
conducted August 3-4, 1999, and a randomly selected national sample
of 1,022 adults, 18 years and older, conducted June 11-13, 1999.
For results based on these samples, one can say with 95 percent
confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and
other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In
addition to sampling error, question wording and practical
difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into
the findings of public opinion polls.
