While most Americans are clear they want tougher rules for gun ownership, they also feel as strongly as ever that the average citizen has a constitutional right to own a gun. Only a plurality, however, feels that laws governing gun ownership should be a federal responsibility.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 74% of American Adults continue to believe the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right of an average citizen to own a gun. Only 17% disagree, while nine percent (9%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

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The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on January 6-7, 2013 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.