Fifty-eight percent said they support banning assault-style weapons. Vets poll: 91 percent back gun checks

The vast majority of veterans support universal background checks, a new poll shows.

According to a survey commissioned by the organization Vote Vets and the liberal Center for American Progress Action Fund, 91 percent of veterans support requiring “a criminal background check of every person who wants to buy a firearm, including 74 [percent] who strongly support it.”


Those figures come as the Senate prepares to take up gun legislation, a debate in which the question of universal background checks for gun purchases will figure prominently. On Wednesday, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) reached a bipartisan agreement on the issue.

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The poll, provided to POLITICO, also found that 61 percent of the veterans surveyed back banning high-capacity ammunition magazines, and 58 percent said they support banning assault-style weapons.

Those surveyed viewed the National Rifle Association favorably, 43-36 percent.

Eighty-five percent of veterans surveyed said it is “important” for leaders in Washington to address gun violence. The same number said that “we can protect responsible gun owners’ Second Amendment rights while still making it more difficult for criminals and other dangerous people to obtain guns.”

The survey of 804 military veterans, who are also registered voters, was conducted April 2-4 and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.5 percent.