Gun Owners Agree on Common Sense Laws

One survivor from the recent Jacksonville, Florida shooting, Drini Gjoka, tweeted, “I will never take anything for granted ever again. Life can be cut short in a second.” In mere moments, healthy people can suddenly become injured, disabled, or die from gun violence.

Researchers and advocates have lobbied state and national legislators to pass bills to make it harder for dangerous people to get their hands on deadly weapons. Determining policies popular among gun owners and non-gun owners could help politicians feel more confident in their ability to pass laws and deflect pressure from lobbyists.

In January 2017, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research conducted a telephone survey of over 2,000 American households to assess their attitudes toward 24 different policies designed to reduce gun violence. The participants were designed to be representative of the U.S. population while oversampling for gun owners.

This update on public opinion found that the majority of respondents supported 23 of 24 policies. Furthermore, there were more than 10-point gaps between gun owners and non-gun owners on only 8 of the 24 policies.

Lawmakers should feel reassured that most common-sense policies enjoy support from both sides. There is no good reason not to pursue regulations on universal background checks, accountability by gun dealers unable to account for missing guns, or requiring a person who can legally carry a concealed gun to pass a test demonstrating safe and lawful handling.

It is clear that America has some of the weakest gun laws in the world. As a result, the U.S. has more mass shootings, successful suicides, and gun homicides compared to the rest of the world.

Legislators should pursue stronger gun laws to prevent gun violence. We should do everything we can to keep our communities safe and secure from violence. People should not fear getting hurt while going to school, listening to a concert, attending religious services, or playing in a video game tournament.

Abstract

Objectives.

To compare public support for 24 different gun policies between gun owners and non–gun owners in 2017.

Methods.

We fielded a national public opinion survey in January 2017 using an online panel to measure US adults’ support for 24 gun policies. We compared support among gun owners and non–gun owners.

Results.

For 23 of the 24 policies examined, most respondents supported restricting or regulating gun ownership. Only 8 of 24 policies had greater than a 10-point support gap between gun owners and non–gun owners.

Conclusions.

Policies with high public support and minimal support gaps by gun ownership status included universal background checks, greater accountability for licensed gun dealers unable to account for their inventory, higher safety training standards for concealed carry permit holders, improved reporting of records related to mental illness for background checks, gun prohibitions for persons subject to temporary domestic violence restraining orders, and gun violence restraining orders.

Public Health Implications.

Although there are important areas where Americans disagree on guns, large majorities of both gun owners and non–gun owners strongly support measures to strengthen US gun laws.

PMID: 29771617

Barry, CL, et al. Am J Public Health. 2018; 108(7): 878-881.