By Pamela Cruz
Approximately half of Americans view gun violence as a "very serious problem" in the country, according to a new study. a Pew Research Center survey carried out in April 2021.
However, according to federal data, gun sales have increased in recent years, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The numbers also revealed that 24 percent of adults think gun violence is a moderately big problem. However, three in 10 Americans say it is either a small problem (22 percent) or not a problem at all (6.0 percent).
According to the agency, attitudes about gun violence differ widely by race, ethnicity, party and community type.
About eight in ten African American adults (82 percent) say gun violence is a very big problem, by far the highest proportion of any racial or ethnic group.
By comparison, about six in ten Hispanic adults (58 percent) and 39 percent of white adults view gun violence that way.
Political ideology and gun violence
When it comes to political ideology, Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are much more likely than Republicans to see gun violence as a major problem (73 percent vs. 18 percent).
In that regard, more than half of Americans (53 percent) favor stricter gun laws, which was a decrease from 2019 when the proportion of citizens who thought along those lines was 60 percent, according to the same April 2021 survey.
Notably, Americans are divided over whether restricting legal gun ownership would lead to fewer mass shootings, which is why debates over the nation's gun laws have often followed recent mass shootings.
About half of adults (49 percent?) say there would be fewer mass shootings if it were harder to obtain guns legally, while about the same number say it would make no difference (42 percent) or that there would be more mass shootings (9.0 percent).
The gap widens with respect to the effects of gun ownership on crime in general. About a third (34 percent) say that if more people had guns, there would be more crime. The same percentage say there would be no difference in crime, while 31 percent say there would be less.
There is broad partisan agreement on some gun policy proposals, but most are politically opposed. Majorities in both partisan coalitions favor two policies that would restrict access to guns: preventing people with mental illness from buying guns (85 percent of Republicans and 90 percent of Democrats).
While on subjecting private gun sales and gun show sales to background checks, 70 percent of Republicans are in favor, and 92 percent of Democrats.
Other proposals expose deep partisan divides. While 80 percent or more of Democrats favor creating a federal database to track all gun sales and banning both assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, most Republicans oppose the proposals.
Most Republicans, on the other hand, support allowing people to carry concealed weapons in more places (72 percent) and allowing teachers and school officials to carry guns in K-12 schools, 66 percent. These proposals are supported by only 20 percent and 24 percent of Democrats, respectively.
A brief demography of violence
On the other hand, more than four in 10 U.S. adults (44 percent) acknowledge living in a household where there is a gun, including about one-third (32 percent) who personally own a gun, according to a Gallup poll carried out in October 2020.
Men are more than twice as likely as women to own a gun (45 percent versus 18 percent), and 48 percent of those who live in cities or rural areas report owning a gun, compared with about a quarter of those who live in the suburbs (25 percent, or cities,23 percent).
Thus, in 2020, the number of monthly federal background checks for gun purchases was at least 20 percent higher than in the same month in 2019, according to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System of the FBI .
Another Gallup poll conducted in August 2019, suggests that personal protection tops the list of reasons gun owners say they have one.
According to the analysis, that issue is as worrisome to them as the federal budget deficit (49 percent), violent crime (48 percent), illegal immigration (48 percent) and the coronavirus outbreak (47 percent). Most Americans consider only one issue to outweigh them all: health care affordability (56 percent).
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