ABC NEWS/WASHINGTON POST POLL: Gun Policy

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE AFTER 6 a.m. Monday, Sept. 9, 2019

Six in 10 Fear a Mass Shooting;

Most Think Gun Laws Can Help
With six in 10 worried about a mass shooting in their own community, Americans by a 17-point
margin express confidence that stricter gun control laws would reduce such incidents, and even
more widely endorse improved mental health monitoring and treatment to that end.

Two measures, specifically, remain overwhelmingly popular: Eighty-nine percent in this ABC
News/Washington Post poll support background checks for all gun purchases, including private
and gun show sales; and 86 percent back “red flag” laws allowing the police to take guns from
individuals found by a judge to be a danger.

The public by a 15-point margin, 56-41 percent, supports banning the sale of assault weapons.
That’s off its recent peak, 62 percent, after the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High
School in Parkland, Florida, last year, but well up from its low, 45 percent in late 2015.

Beyond banning assault weapons sales, 52 percent support a mandatory buyback program in
which the government would require owners to turn in their assault weapons in exchange for
payment. And six in 10 in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, support
banning high-capacity ammunition clips.

Gun policy may be debated again as Congress returns to session this week, following mass
shootings across the country that killed at least 35 in August. Americans trust the Democrats in
Congress over Donald Trump to handle gun laws by 51-36 percent.

Fifty-eight percent express confidence that stricter gun laws would in fact reduce mass
shootings; 41 percent are skeptical. As noted, there also are especially broad hopes for improved
mental health monitoring and treatment; 76 percent think these would reduce mass shootings.

CONSIDERATIONS – Support for some gun laws is premised, in large part, on confidence that
gun control efforts would have the desired effect. Among those who think such laws would
curtail mass shootings, for example, 75 percent support fan assault weapons ban. That falls to 28
percent support among those who aren’t confident such laws would work.

There’s a similar effect when it comes to a mandatory buyback and banning high-capacity
magazines. But the gaps shrink on the two most popular measures: background checks and red
flag laws win broad majority support even among those who are skeptical that stricter laws
would reduce mass shootings.

Results also are similar comparing people in gun-owning households (46 percent of all adults)
with those where no gun is present. Support for an assault weapons ban ranges from 70 percent
in non-gun households to 43 percent in gun households (still a substantial share). But more than

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eight in 10 people in gun households support universal background checks and red flag laws
alike, as do nine in 10 in non-gun households.

Stricter gun control

More Less Gun No gun in
confident confident household household
Banning assault weapons
Support 75% 28% 43% 70%
Oppose 22 67 53 27
Mandatory assault weapon buyback
Support 72 24 37 67
Oppose 25 72 59 28
Banning high-capacity magazines
Support 77 36 48 73
Oppose 20 58 48 23
Red flag laws
Support 94 75 82 91
Oppose 6 20 16 6
Requiring background checks
Support 97 80 88 91
Oppose 3 18 11 7

Perceived risk is another factor. Among those who are very or somewhat worried that a mass
shooting could occur in their community, 67 percent support banning the sale of assault
weapons. That drops to 39 percent support among those who are less concerned about an attack
occurring in their area.

ASSAULT WEAPONS/GROUPS – There are other big differences among groups, well-
illustrated by the assault weapons question. Women are 20 percentage points more likely than
men to support banning the sale of these weapons, 65 vs. 45 percent. While support is higher in
urban areas than elsewhere, there’s a broad gap between urban women (73 percent support a ban)
and urban men (52 percent). And among political independents, 72 percent of women favor a
ban, compared with 43 percent of men.

Education is a sharp divider – support for banning assault weapons rises with more education,
ranging from 72 percent of those with postgraduate degrees to 46 percent of those with no more
than a high school diploma. But here, too, gender influences attitudes. Among women who
haven’t gone beyond high school, 55 percent back an assault weapons ban; among their male
counterparts, it’s 38 percent.

Support for a ban reaches 71 percent among blacks, compared with 52 percent of whites. It
differs by age, ranging from 63 percent among seniors to 49 percent among young adults.
(Perhaps counterintuitively, support for banning assault weapons sales is higher among seniors
even though they tend to be more conservative politically.)

And politics is a very prominent factor, as likely soon will be on display in Washington. Eighty-
one percent of Democrats support an assault weapons ban, compared with 55 percent of

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independents and 33 percent of Republicans. The results are very similar moving from liberals to
moderates to conservatives.

That said, again, the most broadly backed items break the mold. Mandatory background checks
and red flag laws win support from at least eight in 10 Republicans and conservatives, and as
many or more of all others. On these, at least, politics seem to give way.

METHODOLOGY – This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by landline and
cellular telephone Sept. 2-5, 2019, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of
1,003 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 points, including the design effect.
Partisan divisions are 28-24-37 percent, Democrats-Republicans-independents.

The survey was produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates of New York, N.Y.,
with sampling and data collection by Abt Associates of Rockville, Md. See details on the
survey’s methodology here.

Analysis by Gary Langer.

ABC News polls can be found at ABCNEWS.com. Join our mailing list to get updates on new
poll releases.

Media contacts: Van Scott (212-456-7243) or Caragh Fisher (212-456-3437).

Full results follow.

8-13, 15 previously released. 1-7, 14 held for release.

16. Would you support or oppose a nationwide ban on the sale of assault weapons?

-------- Support -------- -------- Oppose --------- No

NET Strongly Somewhat NET Somewhat Strongly opinion
9/5/19 56 46 10 41 8 33 4
4/11/18 62 51 12 35 8 26 3
2/18/18 50 38 12 46 11 36 4
6/23/16* 51 41 10 48 10 37 2
12/13/15 45 34 10 53 12 41 3
4/14/13 56 45 11 42 12 30 2
3/10/13 57 46 11 41 11 30 2
1/13/13 58 50 9 39 12 26 3
1/19/11** 63 NA NA 34 NA NA 3
4/26/09** 54 " " 41 " " 5
4/22/07*** 67 54 13 30 10 21 3
5/10/00 71 60 11 27 11 16 2
9/2/99 77 68 9 22 8 14 1
5/16/99 79 67 12 19 7 12 2
6/14/94 80 NA NA 18 NA NA 2
*June 2016 and prior "Would you support or oppose a law requiring a nationwide ban on
the sale of assault weapons?"
**CBS/NYT "Do you favor or oppose a nationwide ban on assault weapons"
***ABC News

17. Would you support or oppose [ITEM]?

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9/5/19 - Summary Table

Support Oppose No opinion

a. requiring background checks on all potential
gun buyers, including private sales and gun shows 89 9 1
b. a nationwide ban on high capacity ammunition clips,
meaning those containing more than 10 bullets 60 36 4
c. a law allowing the police to take guns away from
people who have been found by a judge to be a
danger to themselves or others 86 12 2
d. a mandatory buy back program in which the federal
government would require assault weapon owners to
turn in those weapons in exchange for payment 52 44 4

a. Compare to:

Would you support or oppose a law requiring background checks on people buying guns at
gun shows or online? Do you feel that way strongly or somewhat?

-------- Support -------- ---------- Oppose ------- No

NET Strongly Somewhat NET Somewhat Strongly opinion

4/14/13* 86 76 10 13 3 9 1
3/10/13 91 82 9 8 2 6 1
1/13/13 88 76 12 11 3 8 1
5/10/00 92 82 10 6 3 3 2
9/2/99 90 80 10 9 7 3 1
5/16/99 89 77 12 11 7 4 *
*"or online" added

b. a nationwide ban on high-capacity ammunition clips, meaning those containing more

than 10 bullets

-------- Support -------- ---------- Oppose ------- No

NET Strongly Somewhat NET Somewhat Strongly opinion
9/5/19 60 NA NA 36 NA NA 4
4/14/13 56 44 12 41 10 31 3
1/13/13 65 53 12 32 11 21 3
12/16/12 59 47 12 38 9 29 2
1/16/11 57 46 11 39 10 29 3

c. a law allowing the police to take guns away from people who have been found by a
judge to be a danger to themselves or others

-------- Support -------- ---------- Oppose ------- No

NET Strongly Somewhat NET Somewhat Strongly opinion
9/5/19 86 NA NA 12 NA NA 2
4/11/18 85 72 13 12 5 7 3

d. No trend.

18. Who do you trust more to handle gun laws in this country – (Trump) or (the
Democrats in Congress)?

Democrats Both Neither No

Trump in Congress (vol.) (vol.) opinion
9/5/19 36 51 1 9 4

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19. How confident are you that [ITEM] would reduce mass shootings in this country –
very confident, somewhat confident, not so confident or not confident at all?

9/5/19 - Summary Table

-- More confident --- ----- Less confident ---- No

NET Very Somewhat NET Not so Not at all op.
a. improving mental health
monitoring and treatment 76 41 35 22 11 11 2
b. passing stricter gun
control laws 58 31 27 41 12 29 2

20. How worried are you, if at all, that a mass shooting could happen in your
community - is that something that worries you a great deal, somewhat, not so much or
not at all?

--------- Worried --------- -------- Not worried --------- No

NET Great deal Somewhat NET Not so much Not at all opinion
9/5/19 60 27 34 39 19 19 1
1/13/13 55 24 31 45 24 21 *

21. Do you or does anyone in your house own a gun, or not?

Yes No No opinion
9/5/19 46 53 *
4/11/18 47 52 1
5/19/13 44 55 1
4/14/13 43 55 2
3/10/13 42 57 1
1/13/13 44 56 1
1/16/11 44 55 *
4/24/09 41 58 *
6/15/08 42 58 *
4/22/07 45 55 0
10/8/06 42 58 *
10/20/02 41 59 *
5/10/00 45 55 *
4/2/00 43 56 *
9/2/99 44 56 *
5/16/99 46 53 *

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