Sixty percent of gun owners polled said they support laws that ban individuals from carrying guns inside schools. Poll: 67 percent of gun owners say NRA 'overtaken by lobbyists'

With the NRA preparing to hold its annual convention this week in Atlanta, complete with a planned address from President Donald Trump, a new poll commissioned by an anti-gun-violence PAC found that less than 50 percent of gun owners polled believe the NRA represents their interests.

Sixty-seven percent of gun owners polled said they either strongly or somewhat agree that the NRA has shifted from an organization dedicated to gun safety to one “overtaken by lobbyists and the interests of gun manufacturers and lost its original purpose and mission.”


Twenty-six percent of respondents said they are members of the NRA, and 74 percent said they are not. Fifty percent said they voted in November for Trump, who was endorsed early in his candidacy by the NRA, while 43 percent said they voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The poll was provided to POLITICO by Americans for Responsible Solutions, the PAC created by former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a shooting at a constituent event in 2011, and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly.

“As a lifelong gun owner, I’ll be the first to say gun owners want our leaders to do more to save lives and make our communities safer,” Kelly said in a statement that accompanied the poll’s release. “Whether you are a Republican gun owner, a Democrat gun owner, or an NRA member — we can all agree that when guns end up in the wrong hands the results are devastating. It’s unacceptable that every day 91 Americans are killed by a gun. We’ve got to do better.”

On specific policy issues, 88 percent of gun owners polled said they support requiring a permit for individuals to carry a concealed gun in public, and 80 percent said they support mandating a background check for all gun purchases, including those online and at gun shows. Eighty-six percent of respondents support a ban on gun purchases for anyone convicted of domestic violence or stalking, and 85 percent support a similar ban for those on the federal terror watch list or no-fly list.

Sixty percent of gun owners polled said they support laws that ban individuals from carrying guns inside schools, while 33 percent said they support the elimination of those laws.

In a statement emailed to POLITICO, the NRA disputed the poll's veracity and said last year's presidential election "was a referendum on gun control" in which voters rejected candidates seeking tougher gun measures.

"The NRA's strength is derived from our five million members and the tens of millions of Second Amendment supporters who vote. The majority of Americans oppose gun control and they made their voices heard this past November," NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker said in a statement emailed to POLITICO. "This was a poll paid for by a gun control group, so it's not surprising that the so called 'results' further their agenda."

The poll, conducted by Public Policy Polling and commissioned by Americans for Responsible Solutions, was in the field from April 19-20. It reached 661 gun owners, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.