Gun safetyLittle difference between gun owners, non-owners on key gun policies

A new national public opinion survey from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health finds widespread agreement among gun owners and non-gun owners in their support for policies that restrict or regulate firearms.

The survey measured support for 24 different gun policies and found minimal gaps in support between gun owners and non-gun owners for 15, or 63 percent, of the policies. For 23 of the 24 policies examined, the majority of respondents supported gun restrictions or regulations, including requiring a background check on every gun sale (universal background check) and prohibiting a person subject to a temporary domestic violence restraining order from having a gun for the duration of the order. 

JHSPH says that the survey was fielded in January 2017 and is the third National Survey of Gun Policy conducted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research. Researchers used the National Opinion Research Center’s AmeriSpeaks online panel designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The study sample included 2,124 adults (602 gun owners, 1,522 non-gun owners) ages 18 years and older. 

The findings were published online by the American Journal of Public Health. 

In 2016, firearms were responsible for more than 38,000 U.S. deaths and over 116,000 nonfatal gunshot wounds treated in U.S. hospitals. The United States continues to debate measures at both the state and federal levels that seek to address gun violence.