Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Tuesday 26 March 2019

AP-NORC Poll: Majority of Americans favor stricter gun laws

By LISA MARIE PANE and to 81 percent. Overall, 58 The poll showed a wide
EMILY SWANSON percent of Americans think share of Americans say
Associated Press it would. safety in churches, syna-
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Still, some gun restrictions gogues, mosques and
majority of Americans fa- get wide support across other places of worship has
vor stricter gun laws, and party lines. Wide shares of worsened over the past
most believe places of wor- both Democrats and Re- two decades. Sixty-one
ship and schools have be- publicans support a uni- percent say religious hous-
come less safe over the last versal background check es have grown less safe
two decades, according requirement, along with over the last two decades.
to a new poll conducted allowing courts to prevent Slightly more said so after
by The Associated Press- some people from buying the New Zealand shooting
NORC Center for Public Af- guns if they are considered than before, 64 percent to
fairs Research. dangerous to themselves 57 percent.
The survey was conducted or others, even if they have Nearly 7 in 10 believe el-
both before and after this not committed crimes. ementary and high schools
month’s mass shooting at In this Thursday, July 26, 2012 file photo, an AR-15 style rifle is In contrast to New Zea- have become less safe
two mosques in New Zea- displayed at the Firing-Line indoor range and gun shop, in land, the United States has than they used to be. And
land. It found that 67 per- Aurora, Colo. enacted few national re- 57 percent say the same
cent of Americans support Associated Press strictions in recent years. In about colleges and univer-
making US gun laws stricter, on March 15 did not ap- duct before and after the part, that’s a reflection of sities.
while 22 percent say they pear to have an impact shooting. While a majority gun rights being enshrined Charlene Bates, who works
should be left as they are on Americans’ support for of Americans have con- in the U.S. Constitution; in a in the library at a high
and 10 percent think they new gun laws; support for sistently said they support poll by the Pew Research school in Idaho, said she
should be made less strict. tighter gun laws was the stronger gun laws, propos- Center in spring of 2017, 74 believes a combination of
The New Zealand shooting same in interview con- als have stalled repeat- percent of gun owners said factors has made schools
edly in Congress in recent the right to own guns is es- less safe than in the past.
years, a marked contrast sential to their own sense of Mental illness, parents who
to New Zealand and some freedom. aren’t as engaged in their
other countries, such as That poll also found that kids’ lives, social media
Australia, that have acted gun owners were far more and violent video games
swiftly after a mass shoot- likely than those who don’t are among the reasons she
ing. Less than a week after own guns to contact public cites for gun violence in
the mosque shootings, New officials about gun policy schools.
Zealand moved to ban or donate to organizations “There are a lot of kids that
“military-style” semi-auto- that take a stance on the you’re just unsure about,
matic weapons and high- issue. they’re kind of unstable,”
capacity magazines; simi- Overall support for stricter said Bates, 46, from Po-
larly, after a mass shooting gun laws is unchanged catello, about 235 miles
in 1996, Australia enacted since an AP-NORC poll east of Boise. There are
sweeping gun bans within conducted one year ago, some students who are qui-
two weeks. a month after the school et, keep to themselves and
The new poll suggests many shooting in Parkland, Flor- she wonders if they’re “like
Americans would support ida, that left 17 people a bomb waiting to go off.
similar measures, but there’s killed. The post-Parkland ... I think that’s what scares
a wide gulf between Dem- poll marked an increase in me the most.”
ocrats and Republicans on support for stricter gun laws, While Idaho is one of the
banning specific types of from 61 percent in October safest places in the United
guns. Overall, 6 in 10 Ameri- 2017. States, she sees coverage
cans support a ban on AR- But the strength of that of mass shootings and vio-
15 rifles and similar semiau- support appears to have lence elsewhere in the
tomatic weapons. Roughly ebbed. The percentage United States and around
8 in 10 Democrats, but just who say gun laws should the world. Her school’s re-
about 4 in 10 Republicans, be made much stricter, source officer conducted
support that policy. Repub- rather than just somewhat some training recently and
licans are also far less likely stricter, drifted down slight- “he said it’s not if, it’s when.
than Democrats to think ly after reaching a peak in This is very likely to happen
that making it harder to the post-Parkland poll, from even in our community.”
buy a gun would prevent 45 percent then to 39 per- “We aren’t isolated,” she
mass shootings, 36 percent cent now. said.q