{"id":74356,"date":"2021-11-17T13:36:09","date_gmt":"2021-11-17T19:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=74356"},"modified":"2021-11-17T13:36:09","modified_gmt":"2021-11-17T19:36:09","slug":"74356","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=74356","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Support For Handgun Ban Hits Record Low As Gun Violence, Sales Soar During Pandemic, Poll Finds<\/a><\/p>\n

Americans\u2019 support for a complete ban on handguns is the lowest on record,\u00a0according<\/a>\u00a0to a new Gallup poll, part of a wider dip in support for stricter gun control measures as gun sales, violent crime and gun violence soared during the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

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KEY FACTS<\/div>\n
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Less than one in five (19%) Americans supported a complete ban on handguns in the U.S., except for police and authorized persons, according to the poll of 823 adults living in all 50 states, conducted between October 1 and 19.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s the lowest level of support since Gallup began polling the issue in 1980 and down six points from last year, the poll found.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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While no political party surveyed indicated majority support for a ban on handguns, Gallup found marked political differences\u201440% of Democrats were in favor compared to just 14% of Independents and 6% of Republicans\u2014with the overall drop in support \u201clargely attributable to political independents,\u201d which has fallen 16 points since 2019.<\/p>\n

A slim majority of Americans support stricter gun control laws\u201452%\u2014the poll found, the lowest point since 2014 and down from 67% in 2018 after the Parkland, Florida school shooting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Political differences are more stark regarding support for stricter gun laws, Gallup found, and near unanimous support from Democrats (91%) contrasts with less than half (45%) of Independents and fewer than a quarter (24%) of Republicans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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While more Democrats and Republicans supported stricter gun control laws this year\u2014rising 6 and 2 points, respectively\u2014a 15-point drop in support from Independents, coupled with a 14-point drop among Republicans the year before, drove the overall level of support down.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

KEY BACKGROUND<\/p>\n

Last year was one of the\u00a0deadliest<\/a>\u00a0for gun violence in decades, with violent crime\u00a0rising<\/a>\u00a0for the first time in four years. Gun sales hit an all-time high during the pandemic and nearly 23\u00a0million<\/a>\u00a0were sold during 2020 alone, a two-thirds jump from the year before. While sales have dropped in 2021, they remain well above pre-pandemic levels, and researchers are\u00a0divided<\/a>\u00a0over whether the surge is responsible for the increase in violence.<\/p>\n

BIG NUMBER<\/p>\n

31%. That\u2019s how many American adults say they own a gun,\u00a0according<\/a>\u00a0to Gallup. While this figure has remained unchanged in decades, the reasons people give for doing so have. Some 88% said they own a gun to protect themselves against crime, up from 67% in 2005. Protection supplanted target shooting (70%) as the dominant reason for owning a gun, Gallup found, which gained four points since 2005. The number of Americans citing hunting as a reason for owning a gun (56%) dropped two points from 2005.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Support For Handgun Ban Hits Record Low As Gun Violence, Sales Soar During Pandemic, Poll Finds Americans\u2019 support for a complete ban on handguns is the lowest on record,\u00a0according\u00a0to a new Gallup poll, part of a wider dip in support for stricter gun control measures as gun sales, violent crime and gun violence soared during … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rkba","category-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74357,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74356\/revisions\/74357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}