A new poll, taken before the shootings in Lewiston, Maine, and Halloween weekend, has found that a majority of Americans would prefer stricter gun laws.
The new Gallup Poll was released on Tuesday and found that 56% of U.S. adults would prefer to have stricter gun laws, while 31% believe they should be kept the same, and 12% would like them to loosen up.
The attitudes were collected before 18 people lost their lives when a gunman opened fire in a bowling alley and restaurant last week and before a dozen shootings left a dozen dead and more injured across the country last weekend.
The sentiment from Americans is unchanged from when pollsters asked this question a year ago, but they do reflect less support for stricter laws than in June 2022, when the number was at 66% following the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
Since 2015, a majority of Americans have consistently favored stricter gun laws, with support increasing after prominent shootings.
However, Americans showed in the study that they don’t want a ban or restriction of firearms across the board, with only 27% of U.S. adults supporting a handgun ban.
The pollsters noted that a majority of Americans have often thought that having guns in people’s homes makes them safer (63%) rather than more dangerous (32%).
This goes beyond just those with guns in their household, as 86% of those who own a firearm feel it makes their home safer, compared to 12% who disagree. 45% of those who don’t have a gun in their home think one would make it safer, compared to 49% who disagree.
Overall, 44% of respondents reported having a gun in their home or on their property. Additionally, 30% of them say the gun belongs to them personally, while the remainder say it belongs to someone else in their house.
Gallup noted that these percentages are consistent with recent years, although there were higher rates of firearm possession in the early 90s.
Still, with mass shootings continuing to pop up across the country, as the National Gun Violence Archive currently puts the number at 585, Americans seem just as split as politicians on how to tackle the growing problem.
The poll was conducted from Oct. 2-23
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