Eighty-three percent of respondents said background checks should be required if someone wants to buy a gun at a gun show or through a private sale. Which policies do people support?īroad bipartisan support for Congressional action on specific gun policies emerged in this poll, with 89 percent of Americans, saying Congress should pass more funding to screen and treat people with mental illness who are trying to purchase guns legally. Since then, mass shootings have erupted in schools, places of worship, concerts, shopping malls and night clubs.
#WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF GUNS HOW TO#
In March 2013, months after 26 students and teachers were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, Americans were almost evenly split on how to balance gun violence with Second Amendment rights.
Nationwide, support for controlling guns has risen incrementally, but significantly, in the last six years. adults said the nation needs to prioritize controlling gun violence, compared to 39 percent of Americans who said they preferred protecting gun rights. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said support from President Donald Trump was key to any piece of legislation getting a vote. Members of the public have called for Congressional action, and several lawmakers called on their colleagues to address the violence when the House and Senate returned from August recess.Ĭongress is back in session this week, and several bills designed to reduce gun violence await votes from lawmakers. In less than two months, there have been four mass shootings–in El Paso, Midland and Odessa, Texas Gilroy, California and Dayton, Ohio. Several mass shootings have ramped up the debate over how the U.S. Policies with the strongest support include more funding for mental health screening and treatment, mandatory background checks and licensing for gun purchases, and passage of a national “red-flag” law, which would give a judge authority to order the removal of guns from a person who poses a risk to themselves or others, the poll suggests. After multiple mass shootings in recent weeks, a majority of Americans think it is more important to control gun violence than to protect gun rights, according to a new PBS NewsHour, NPR and Marist poll.