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U.S. NEWS A5
Thursday 29 October 2015
AP-GfK Poll: Support for tighter gun laws ticks up
KATHLEEN HENNESSEY In this July 20, 2012, file photo, a row of different AR-15 style rifles are displayed for sale at the Firing-Line indoor range and gun shop
EMILY SWANSON in Aurora, Colo.
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Af- Associated Press
ter a steady string of mass
shootings and a revival of year after a mass shooting cent said gun laws infringe Republicans — 69 percent About half of Republicans
the political fight over gun at an elementary school in to 55 percent — to say gun live in households with a
control, Americans are Newtown, Connecticut, 52 on the right to bear arms laws are very or extremely gun, compared with less
slightly more likely than they percent of Americans said important to them. than a third of Democrats
were two years ago to say gun laws should be made and 47 percent said they City and suburban dwell- or independents.
gun laws should be made tighter. That number was ers are more likely to back The AP-GfK Poll of 1,027
stricter, a new Associated 58 percent in the new poll, did not. tighter laws than rural adults was conducted on-
Press-GfK poll found. while 27 percent said they Americans. line Oct. 15 to Oct. 19, using
Despite the uptick in fa- think laws should be left as Gun control has become Americans are equally di- a sample drawn from GfK’s
vor of tighter gun laws, they are and 12 percent fa- vided over which party probability-based Knowl-
Americans remain deeply vored making gun laws less one of the top issues in they trust to do a better job edgePanel, which is de-
divided along party, gen- strict. handling the issue. Twenty- signed to be representative
der and geographic lines Over a third of Americans the Democratic presiden- nine percent say they trust of the U.S. population. The
on an issue that has rico- said gun laws should be the Republicans more and margin of sampling error for
cheted into the presiden- made much stricter, up tial primary, as front-runner 27 percent trust the Demo- all respondents is plus or mi-
tial campaign. Eight in 10 from 29 percent who said crats more, while 13 per- nus 3.3 percentage points.
Democrats favor stricter so in the 2013 poll. Hillary Rodham Clinton cent say they trust both Respondents were first se-
gun laws, while 6 in 10 Re- And they were slightly less equally. An additional 30 lected randomly using tele-
publicans want them left as inclined to see laws limit- has promised to take ex- percent say they trust nei- phone or mail survey meth-
they are or loosened. ing gun ownership as an ther party on handling the ods, and later interviewed
Still, the results show the infringement on the 2nd ecutive action to expand issue. online. People selected
calls for tighter laws have Amendment right to bear Unchanged since 2013 is for KnowledgePanel who
some bipartisan appeal, arms. Forty-five percent background checks and the share of Americans liv- didn’t otherwise have ac-
with 37 percent of Repub- saw such laws as an in- ing in a household where cess to the Internet were
licans, including 31 percent fringement; 51 percent did accused Republicans at least one person owns provided access at no cost
of conservative Republi- not. In the 2013 poll, 50 per- a gun — about one-third. to them.q
cans, favoring stricter gun of bowing to the power-
laws.
The new poll was taken two ful gun lobby. President
weeks after the shooting
rampage at a community
college in Oregon thrust
the discussion of gun con-
trol into the country’s atten-
tion and the presidential
campaign. Polls regularly
find a rise in support for
tighter gun laws after such
shootings — although that
support often levels off as
the headlines fade.
In December 2013, one
Barack Obama has said he
plans to use his bully pulpit
to press lawmakers to pass
tougher laws, although
there’s little sign of momen-
tum in the Republican-run
Congress.
The poll finds Democratic
politicians are in line with
their party’s loyalists. Dem-
ocrats are more likely than
