Support for new gun laws has risen sharply, a new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows, including for anti-gun-violence legislation in general and a ban on assault weapons in particular. Large and bipartisan majorities also back raising the legal age to buy long guns and enacting “red flag” gun-confiscation laws.

In the wake of the high school shooting that killed 17 in Parkland, Florida, in February, 62 percent of Americans now support a nationwide ban on the sale of assault weapons, up from 50 percent just since mid-February and 45 percent in late 2015 to its highest since January 2011.

See PDF for full results, charts and tables.

More, 72 percent, support raising the legal age to buy rifles and shotguns to 21 in all states, and 85 percent favor red flag laws empowering the police to take guns away from those judged to be a danger to themselves and others. Such laws have been enacted in six states and proposed in 23 more.

PHOTO: Students are evacuated by police out of Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., after a shooting on Feb. 14, 2018. (Mike Stocker/Sun Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images) More

More generally, the public by 57-34 percent now says that enacting new laws to try to prevent gun violence should be a higher priority than protecting the right to own a gun. That broad 23-point preference for new gun laws compares with an even 46-47 percent split in fall 2015.

These shifts aren’t the norm; attitudes on gun control generally have not moved significantly immediately after heinous gun crimes. Then again, the Parkland shooting prompted an unusual response, including the participation of hundreds of thousands of young people in the March for Our Lives.

The public by 71-24 percent also says Congress is not doing enough to try to prevent gun violence, and by 59-34 percent says President Donald Trump is not doing enough. As noted in a separate report Sunday, the issue could be a potent one in November, with 78 percent saying it’s important to them to support candidates who share their views on gun policy.

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