Poll: Shootings Give Little Boost to Gun Control Efforts

A new poll finds more support for gun control but little certainty about how effective such laws would be, The Caucus blog of The New York Times reports. The CBS News survey says 47 percent of Americans want stricter gun laws, up from 40 percent last April, even as nearly 6 in 10 polled doubt new restrictions would have stopped the attack last Saturday on Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords that killed six and wounded 14.

The new poll is at odds with a steady, twenty-year decline in support for more restrictions on firearms ownership -- a change in sentiment that has continued even after other highly publicized episodes of gun violence. Gallup polling on the question shows that the increased gun-control position had 78 percent support in 1990 and leveled off in 2009 and 2010 at 44 percent.

The CBS poll shows 48 percent of Americans believe gun control laws should either be kept as they are (36 percent) or eased (12 percent). The Washington Wire political blog of the Wall Street Journal reports that additional gun control remains unlikely in a Congress with a diminished number of Democrats.