WASHINGTON — Republican support for gun restrictions is slipping a year after Congress passed the most comprehensive firearms control legislation in decades with bipartisan support, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
That has led to a gap between Democrats and the GOP on the issue of guns that has widened in the last year. Democrats have consistently outpaced Republicans and independents in their belief that gun laws in the United States should be strengthened, but GOP support has dropped even further behind, the poll found.
Most Democrats, 92%, want gun laws made stronger, in line with their views in a UChicago Harris/AP-NORC poll conducted in July 2022. But Republican desire for more expansive legislation has dropped to 32% from 49% last summer and independents’ support also declined slightly to 61% from 72%.
“We’ve tried to legislate things for years without a lot of success, and I don’t really think law and regulation are the answer to our problems,” said Robert Lloyd, 57, of Booneville, Arkansas, who is a registered Republican but says he has “lost faith in both sides.” “I think our problems go way beyond guns.”
Yet despite the political divide, both sides believe it is important to reduce mass shootings that plague the nation, the poll found. Majorities of Americans say they would support some additional restrictions on guns, particularly background checks and red flag laws, which allow law enforcement to remove weapons from a person believed to be a danger to themselves or others.
Even with GOP and independent headwinds on more restrictions, lawmakers could still find support: Enforcing background checks on all potential gun buyers earns bipartisan support, with 93% of Democrats and 68% of Republicans in favor.
The AP-NORC poll highlights the complicated feelings Americans have around guns, particularly as the United States is on track to hit a record-high number of mass…
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