Our new interactive on gun control data. Sort data by gender, age, generations, race, ideology, parents, urban/rural, region and gun ownership.
This chart from our July survey showed that shootings haven’t greatly shifted views on gun rights and gun control.
There has been no significant change in public views on the issue of gun control and gun rights following the shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. Currently, 47% say it is more important to control gun ownership, while 46% say it is more important to protect the rights of Americans to own guns. That is virtually unchanged from April, when 45% prioritized gun control 49% gun rights. Other recent major episodes of gun violence, such as the 2011 Tucson shooting and the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, also had little effect on public opinion about gun laws.
(Source: people-press.org)
"There was a reaction to Obama’s presidency. There was a growing concern at that time that there would be new restrictions on gun ownership coming down and it had the effect of raising the profile of this issue and mobilizing support for gun rights."
— Carroll Dougherty, Associate Director of Research at the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, discussing a recent survey report that showed a long-term rise in the support for gun rights in an article with CBC News.
Opinions about a pair of contentious social issues, gun control and gay marriage, have changed substantially since previous presidential campaigns. On gun control, Americans have become more conservative; on gay marriage, they have become more liberal.
