Pew reports that Americans are largely split on whether it’s more important to control gun ownership or protect the right of American to own guns. | Getty Pew survey: 52 percent of Americans want stricter gun laws

Fifty-two percent of Americans believe that the country’s gun laws should be more strict than they are today, according to a Pew Research poll conducted this spring.

Thirty-four percent of people surveyed by Pew said they believe American gun laws should be a lot more strict than they are currently, while 17 percent said they should be somewhat more stringent.


Thirty percent think the current gun laws are “about right,” while 18 percent said American gun laws should be less strict. Eight percent said they should be a lot less strict and 10 percent think they should be somewhat less strict.

The Pew study released Thursday takes an in-depth look at Americans’ attitudes toward guns and their gun ownership habits. It found big gaps in the beliefs about gun control and the risks associated with guns between people who own them and those who do not.

For example, just under half the respondents, 47 percent, said they consider the right to own guns essential to their sense of freedom. Thirty-four percent view the right to own guns as important but not essential, while 19 percent said it is not important to them.

But a solid majority of gun owners — 74 percent — said the right to own a gun is essential to their personal sense of freedom. Just 35 percent of respondents who do not own guns said so.

There’s a divide on the question of gun control, too. While 62 percent of non-gun owners say the country’s gun laws should be more strict, just 29 percent of gun owners said the same (44 percent of gun owners think current laws are about right, while 27 percent said they should be less strict).

On the question of who should be allowed to own a gun, a majority of respondents, 64 percent, answered “most people.” Eighty percent of gun owners said this, as did 56 percent of non-gun owners. Just under a quarter of non-gun owners, 24 percent, said just “some people” should be able to own a gun legally, while 19 percent of respondents said so overall.

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Pew reports that Americans are largely split on whether it’s more important to control gun ownership or protect the right of American to own guns. A slim majority, 51 percent, said gun control is more important, compared to 47 percent who said gun rights should be the priority. That’s roughly flipped from August 2016, when 52 percent of respondents told Pew that gun rights are more important and 46 percent prioritized gun control.

Not surprisingly, the survey results indicate a large partisan divide on this and other gun control questions. Seventy-six percent of Republicans told Pew this year that protecting Americans’ gun ownership rights is more important than gun control, while just 22 percent of Democrats said the same.

The survey, conducted from March 13 to 27 and April 4 to 18, had a sample size of 3,930, including 1,269 gun owners, and an overall margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percent. The margin of error in the sample of gun owners was plus or minus 4.8 percent.