Bipartisan majority of voters favor stricter gun laws

A bipartisan majority of voters strongly support stricter gun legislation, a national Fox News poll found in the wake of several mass shootings that have rocked the country.

Voters are overwhelmingly in favor of requiring background checks to purchase a gun, with 88% of responders saying they support them. A whopping 84% say they want to improve existing gun laws, according to the poll.

Another 82% of voters say they are in favor of raising the age to purchase assault weapons from 18 to 21 and 78% support raising the age to 21 for any gun.

Eight in ten voters (81%) support passing “red flag” laws that would allow law enforcement to seize guns from people shown to be a danger to themselves or others and 78% support mental health checks.

Over three quarters of voters (77%) support a 30-day waiting period for all gun purchases and 70% favor banning high-volume ammunition clips.

The poll found 63% support banning assault weapons outright.

Though still a majority, only 56% of voters said they believe tougher gun laws would reduce mass shootings in the United States, while 39% do not, according to the poll.

According to the poll, the only proposals that lack majority support are allowing teachers to carry guns at schools (48%) and encouraging more citizens to carry a weapon (45%).

Compared to that poll taken in 2019, support for gun control has increased significantly across several demographics: Hispanics (+37 percentage points), Democrats (+33), women (+26), men (+25), gun households (+24), Black voters (+23), and Republicans (+20).

Six out of every 10 voters — and 86% of Democrats — said it’s more important to protect citizens from guns, while only 4 in 10 — and 65% of Republicans — said they are more concerned about their Second Amendment rights. 

Gun households are split on the issue: 47% gun rights vs. 48% citizen protection. 

According to Fox, the poll was conducted from June 10-13, just weeks after 19 fourth graders and two teachers were massacred at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas roughly one month after 10 black people were killed in a hate-fueled shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Both shooters were 18-years-old and used legally purchased AR-15 assault rifles to kill.

When voters were asked why they believe the US has so many mass shootings while other countries do not, 36% attributed the mass shootings to a lack of gun laws, 15% said it’s a mental health issue, 5% blamed it on lack of parental guidance and another 5% cited the availability of assault-style weapons. No other reason topped 5%.

Democrats (48%) are almost twice as likely as Republicans (25%) to say the lack of gun laws is the main issue, while Republicans are divided between the absence of mental health treatment (21%) and gun laws.

On Sunday, a bipartisan group of senators reached an agreement for a framework of gun safety measures that would include red flag laws, background checks and funds to secure schools — but wouldn’t raise the age to buy certain rifles to 21.

“Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities,” the group of 20 senators said in a statement.

The bipartisan group includes 10 Republican senators, which would allow the deal to overcome the 60-vote threshold in the 50-50 divided chamber necessary to pass legislation.

In response to the agreement announcement over the weekend, the NRA released a statement in a series of tweets vowing to fight the legislation.

“NRA will continue to oppose any effort to insert gun control policies, initiatives that override constitutional due process protections & efforts to deprive law-abiding citizens of their fundamental right to protect themselves/loved ones into this or any other legislation,” one of the tweets said.