Poll finds majority of Americans in favor of stricter gun laws

WASHINGTON —Amajority of Americans favor stricter gun laws, and most believe places of worship and schools have become less safe over the last two decades, according to a new poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The survey was conducted both before and after the March 15 mass shooting at two New Zealand mosques. It found that 67 percent of Americans support making US gun laws stricter, while 22 percent say they should be left as they are and 10 percent think they should be made less strict.

Support for tighter gun laws was the same in interview conduct before and after the shooting.

While a majority of Americans have consistently said they support stronger gun laws, proposals have stalled repeatedly in Congress in recent years, a marked contrast to New Zealand and other countriesthat have acted swiftly after a mass shooting. Less than a week after the mosque shootings, New Zealand moved to ban “military-style” semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines; similarly, after a mass shooting in 1996, Australia enacted sweeping gun bans within two weeks.

The new poll suggests many Americans would support similar measures, but there’s a wide gulf between Democrats and Republicans on banning specific types of guns. Overall,

6 in 10 Americans support a ban on AR-15 rifles and similar semi-automatic weapons. Roughly 8 in 10 Democrats, but just about 4 in 10 Republicans, support that policy.

Republicans are also far less likely than Democrats to think that making it harder to buy a gun would prevent mass shootings, 36 percent to 81 percent. Overall, 58 percent of Americans think it would.

Still, some gun restrictions get wide support across party lines. Wide shares of Democrats and Republicans support a universal background check requirement, along with allowing courts to prevent some people from buying guns if they are considered dangerous to themselves or others, even if they have not committed crimes.

The United States has enacted few national restrictions in recent years.

The AP-NORC poll of

1,063 adults was conducted March 14-18; the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

ALEX BRANDON/AP