Poll: 60 percent of gun owners oppose firearms in schools

Gun control advocates have long claimed that even gun owners support stronger background checks. 

And on Tuesday, Americans for Responsible Solutions released a poll showing gun owners also support restrictions on guns in schools, silencers and for suspected terrorists.

Sixty percent of gun owners said firearms should not be allowed in schools.

{mosads}The federal Gun-Free School Zones Act prohibits firearms from being carried in schools. But President Trump and various Republican lawmakers have suggested that gun-free zones have become easy targets for mass shooters, leading to speculation about whether lawmakers will attempt to repeal the legislation.

Public Policy Polling conducted the study for Americans for Responsible Solutions, a gun control group founded by former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), who survived a 2011 mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz.

Another question found that 85 percent of gun owners believe people on the government’s terrorist watch list should be prohibited from owning a gun.

However, the poll did not explain that these suspects have not been convicted of terrorism. The gun lobby argues they deserve due process in court.

The poll also found that 73 percent of gun owners support restrictions on silencers, which muffle the sound of a gun shot.

Proponents of sound suppressors say they are primarily used by hunters to protect their hearing. But critics fear they will fall into the hands of criminals.

To obtain a silencer, gun owners must go through an even more extensive background check than they do to qualify for a firearm.

The Hearing Protection Act would loosen the requirements, so that anyone who passes the basic background check to own a gun could also buy a silencer. But the polling question did not clarify that they would still face a certain degree of scrutiny. 

Asked another way — “Do you support or oppose making it easier to buy a silencer?” — 68 percent of respondents opposed the idea.

Furthermore, the question refers to these devices as silencers, a term gun lobbyists dispute. They prefer the term sound suppressor.

Currently, most gun dealers are required to conduct background checks before selling a firearm. But some gun dealers who sell firearms online or at gun shows get around these requirements. Gun control groups are pushing to close these loopholes.

Americans for Responsible Solutions found that 80 percent of gun owners support stronger background check requirements. However, the support from gun owners may be dwindling.

In November 2015, the same liberal polling group that conducted Tuesday’s survey found that 83 percent of gun owners support stronger background checks.

In July 2012, before the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, Mayors Against Illegal Guns commissioned a poll that found 82 percent of gun owners supported stronger background checks.

Compared with these polls, Tuesday’s results fall within the 4 percentage point margin of error, Americans for Responsible Solutions point out. But they also show that support hasn’t increased over the last five years.

The poll asked 661 gun owners for their opinions on various firearms laws.