A new poll finds support for background checks holds across racial lines, and that more than half support a ban on rapid-firing semiautomatic weapons

About nine in 10 young American adults say they support criminal background checks for all gun sales, according to a new GenForward poll.

Such support remains consistent across racial and ethnic groups, the poll found – stiffer penalties for violating existing gun laws are supported by nine in 10 young whites, Asian Americans and Latinos and eight in 10 African Americans. More than half (57%) of young Americans support a ban on rapid-firing semi-automatic weapons, with support especially high – 74% – among Asian Americans.

GenForward is a survey by the Black Youth Project at the University of Chicago, with the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The first poll of its kind, it pays special attention to the voices of young adults of color, highlighting how race and ethnicity shape the opinions of a new generation.

LaShun Roy supports a ban on semiautomatic weapons and more comprehensive background checks. But the 21-year-old gun owner from rural Texas doesn’t consider gun-control measures a top priority in this year’s elections.

For Keionna Cottrell, a 24-year-old who lives on Chicago’s south side and whose brother was shot and killed this year in another Illinois city, few things are more important than limiting access to guns.

“So many people are dying here because there is no control of the weapons out on our streets,” said Cottrell. “Young men … have real military guns and they’re not scared to use them.”

Although their lives and experiences differ, the young women’s shared support for additional policies to curb gun violence reflect the feelings of many Americans between the ages of 18 and 30, according to the new poll.

Roy, a full-time college student who learned to handle assault rifles while serving in the national guard, said it was possible to protect the rights of gun owners and implement safeguards. That puts her among the 54% of young adults – including 61% of Asian Americans, 57% of African Americans and 52% of Latinos and whites – who say laws limiting gun ownership do not infringe on the public’s right to bear arms.

“I think it’s important to make sure the government isn’t going door to door saying, ‘Let me see your guns and ammo,’” said Roy, who is black. “But I think it’s really important to have background checks … and make sure a felon can’t get a gun.”

She also said a new Texas law that permits open carry on college campuses was a bad idea. “What if someone’s not doing well in class or a family member dies? What’s to stop them from pulling out a gun and shooting the teacher or people in class? You just have so many different emotions and types of people you go to school with.”

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The poll underscores the differences in young Americans’ personal experiences, which they say helped shape their attitudes toward guns. More than a third of African Americans – 37% – and nearly a quarter of Latinos say they or someone they know has experienced gun violence in the last year, compared to only 12% of whites or Asian Americans.

About four in 10 young adults say they live in households where someone owns a gun, including 21% who personally own one. Among young whites, 52% live in a gun-owning household, with 29% owning one personally. Twenty-four per cent of young black Americans, 23% of young Latinos, and 19% of young Asian Americans live in gun-owning households, though just 10% of Latinos and Asian Americans and 11% of African Americans say they own one.

Yet more than half of Americans ages 18-30 say it’s more important to control gun ownership than to protect gun rights. That includes 76% of young Asian Americans, 63% of African Americans, and 60% of Latinos. Young white Americans are divided, with 53% saying it’s more important to protect gun rights and 46% saying it’s more important to control gun ownership.

Saajan Bhakta, 21, of Wichita, Kansas, said he did not oppose gun ownership, but believed gun violence “needs to be addressed very promptly” with new laws restricting access for people with criminal records and some mental health issues and a ban on some semi-automatic weapons. He says the recent killings of police officers in Dallas, where he has close friends and family, showed “that it could happen anytime, anywhere, with anyone”.

“Human behavior is predictable to a level, but also unpredictable,” said Bhakta, who runs a humanitarian not-for-profit organization and hopes to earn a doctorate in psychology. “Being on top of it from the beginning helps prevent unnecessary events.”

He is among the majority of young Asian Americans, 62%, who think owning a gun does more to put a person’s safety at risk than to protect them from crime. On the other hand, 59% of young adults overall say they think owning a gun does more to protect a person from being a crime victim, including nearly two-thirds of young whites, almost six in 10 Latinos and a slim majority of African Americans.

Roy, the Texas college student, said there always had been a rifle in her family’s home for self-defense, but she still believed guns pose a greater threat to most owners than criminals do.

“A lot goes into handling one safely,” she said. “And a lot can go wrong if you don’t know what you’re doing.”