Even though President Barack Obama vowed to review how he can impose
new gun restrictions after the San Bernardino shootings, Americans remain almost evenly divided on whether they want more strict gun control laws, according to a new
Quinnipiac University poll, with 47 percent supporting stronger laws and 50 percent opposing.
"American voters say it is too easy to buy a gun in the United States. And in a loud voice they say, as they've said in three years of Quinnipiac University polls, let's do background checks," said assistant poll director Tim Malloy.
In the new poll, 47 percent of voters said they support stronger laws, and 50 percent said they oppose them.
The poll of 1,140 registered voters, also found:
- 89-9 percent support background checks for gun purchases online or at gun shows, including 84-14 percent in homes where there are guns;
- 58-38 percent support nationwide ban on sales of assault weapons, but in gun households, 53-45 percent oppose that ban.
- 55 percent say it is too easy to buy a gun, including 40 percent from gun households.
- 4 percent, including 6 percent in gun households say it is too difficult.
- 36 percent and 49 percent in gun households say it is about right.
The poll carried a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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