Poll Finds Gun Owners, Even NRA Members, Back Some Restrictions
Most gun owners - even current and former members of the National Rifle Association - support some firearms ownership restrictions including criminal background checks for prospective gun buyers, according to a poll commissioned by an anti-gun lobbying group.
The survey, conducted by Republican pollster Frank Luntz for the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, was carried out in May but was released on Tuesday in the aftermath of the Colorado movie theater shooting that killed 12 people last week.
The shootings in the Denver suburb of Aurora early on Friday have renewed the debate over gun control in a nation whose Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms. Authorities have said the man arrested in the shootings was armed with an AR-15 assault rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and a Glock .40-caliber handgun. All of the guns were purchased legally.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire backer of the mayors group, has said the incident should wake up the country to the need for tough restrictions on gun ownership.
Luntz said he polled 945 gun owners nationwide - half of whom were gun owners who were current or former members of the NRA, a gun rights group that takes a hard line against most firearms control measures, and half of whom were not affiliated with the NRA.