Majority says states should be able to determine who carries concealed weapons: poll

A Majority of Americans say state governments should determine who can carry concealed weapons, according to a new Monmouth University Poll. 

The poll, published on Thursday, found that 56 percent of respondents said that individual states should be allowed to limit which citizens can carry concealed handguns in their state, while 42 percent of those surveyed disagreed with that sentiment. 

The poll follows a Supreme Court decision last week that struck down a New York state law that made it difficult to obtain a permit to carry a handgun outside the home.

The ruling’s broad sweep amounts to a complete overhaul of the court’s Second Amendment doctrine and is expected to call into question a wide range of other gun laws and limit state power to control firearms.

The poll also comes amid renewed debate over gun violence in the U.S., sparked by a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 students and two teachers.

Seventy-three percent of respondents said they strongly support legislation that requires comprehensive background checks for all gun purchases, while 10 percent of those surveyed said they strongly oppose such a law.

Forty-nine percent of respondents said they strongly support establishing a national gun ownership database to register all guns in the country, compared to 31 percent in opposition.

And forty-five percent of respondents said they strongly support a ban on assault-style weapons sales in the U.S., compared to 32 percent who strongly oppose such a ban.

Although Democrats are in broad support of those measures, none of them were part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was negotiated in the Senate and signed into law by President Biden last week.

The bill includes funding for school safety resources, strengthens background checks for buyers under the age of 21, increases penalties for straw purchases of firearms and introduces new protections for domestic violence victims. 

Asked about the new legislation, 32 percent of respondents said it did not go far enough, 15 percent said it went too far, 9 percent said it went far enough, and 44 percent either said they didn’t know or hadn’t heard about it.

The poll was conducted from June 23 to June 27 with a total of 978 respondents. The margin of error was 3.1 percentage points.