facts on guns in 6 charts: A 2018 midterm report
Nice informative report from Politifact, sept 30, 2018
March 2018 Gallup: In general, do you feel that laws covering the sale of firearms should be made more strict, less strict, or kept as they are now?
67% More strict
04% Less strict
29% Kept as they are now (2018)
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/zYz8EUp5tGrZqhQMan8DVeY9Uozw7RVSLrbFt1H2RMaCgaKSoiTCsoH0a1nRBJ4oXKILSWSbNPI4FBcZQZyjTjVQoZpWkwrp0RKLgWcEk4I3JtgBCqOPZ68X2-MrhLbji8GuC9gI
(referring to chart above): Public support for stricter gun laws has been on something of an upswing. Data from Gallup — over 18 years and using the same question — shows that support for stricter gun laws has risen from 47 percent in October 2014 to 67 percent in March 2018. That’s the highest it’s been in almost two decades.
Also see:
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2018/sep/30/facts-guns-6-charts/
= new reply since forum marked as read
oct 19 2018: Americans' support for a ban on semi-automatic guns in the U.S. has dropped eight percentage points from a year ago, when opinions were more evenly divided after the mass shooting in Las Vegas. Last year's measure was unusually high for the trend over the past several years; the current 40% is back to within a few points of where it was between 2011 and 2016.
The latest findings, from an Oct. 1-10 {2018} survey, mark the eighth time since 1996 that Gallup has gauged public opinion on banning "semi-automatic guns, known as assault rifles." These types of guns, which reload automatically but fire only once per trigger pull, have been used in a number of mass shootings in the U.S. in recent years.
.. fer chryce sake, a semi automatic rifle is not necessarily an assault rifle, you'd think this would've sunk into such an esteemed org as gallup by now. Semi-esteemed, ha.
Gallup misleads, by phrasing the question 'are you for or against a law which would make it illegal to manufacture, sell or possess semi-automatic guns, known as assault rifles'.
See what I mean? Responders will get confused whether the issue is to ban all semi-automatic guns (which most people will be against) while most people are FOR banning the partial subset of semi-auto guns known as assault rifles.
People generally do NOT want to ban semi automatic rifles, but generally DO want to ban certain of the more high powered semi auto rifles which have been classified assault rifles.
My erstwhile ruger 22 short rifle which shot rimfire 22 longs or shorts was a semi-automatic with 10 round mag/clip but I laugh when I think of it being called an assault rifle. Good for assaulting tin cans in a row about it.
Jeez what a crappy way to phrase the gallup poll question.
I checked with polling report and the question is the same for the 2017 gallup poll, as well as the 2016 question, exactly the same question. I give this gallup rendition a thumbs down as far as being representative of an assault weapon/rifle ban.
Gallup Poll. Oct. 1-10, 2018. N=1,019 adults nationwide. Margin of error ± 4.
"In general, do you feel that the laws covering the sale of firearms should be made more strict, less strict, or kept as they are now?"
............More strict.. Less strict.. Kept as now.. Unsure
10/1-10/18 ... 61..... 8................. 30 .....2
3/1-8/18 ...... 67..... 4................... 28 .......1
10/5-11/17 ... 60..... 5............... 33 ......1
10/5-9/16 .... 55..... 10............... 34 .......1
This is a broad consensus of gun polls from this year back to the 1990's:
http://www.pollingreport.com/guns.htm