Gallup: Support for gun control remains at record low

[John Lefoot]

Submitted by cbaus on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 07:00.

For the second year in a row, a record-low 44 percent of Americans say laws governing the sale of firearms should be made more strict, while 54 percent say gun laws should be kept as they are now or made less strict, according to Gallup's annual Crime Poll, conducted Oct. 7-10 this year.

Americans' support for stricter gun-control laws has gradually declined over the last two decades, from 78 percent when this question was first asked in 1990 to 49 percent in 2008, and 44 percent in 2009 and again this year.

Americans' support for stricter gun control laws has gradually declined over the last two decades, from 78% when this question was first asked in 1990 to 49% in 2008, and 44% in 2009 and again this year. As support for stricter gun laws has decreased, support for keeping gun laws as they are now has increased, from 17% in 1990 to 42% now. The percentage of Americans favoring less strict gun control laws has remained relatively stable over the last 20 years, and is now at 12%.

These results are based on Gallup's annual Crime Poll, conducted Oct. 7-10 this year.

Americans are also less likely to say there should be a law banning the possession of handguns except by the police and other authorized persons. The current 29% who favor such a law is within one percentage point of the low of 28% recorded last year, down from 60% when Gallup first asked this question in 1959 -- the only time when a majority favored such a ban. Support has been below 40% every year since 1993.

...Americans are holding firm to their record-low level of support for making gun laws stricter, with virtually no change from last year. Additionally, less than a third of Americans support a law banning possession of handguns for individuals beyond police and other authorized persons -- similar to the record-low levels of support for this type of law found over the past three years.

...Only 1% of Americans mention gun control as America's most important problem at this time, and even fewer mention crime. Thus, although there is majority support for stricter gun laws among both Democrats and liberals, it appears that there will not be pressure to make this a high-priority issue for the leaders of these political groups in the months ahead.