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Majority of Americans prioritize laws reducing gun violence over gun rights: Poll

AR-15 assault rifles on display at a gun show in Pennsylvania, USA, Oct. 6, 2017. (File photo)

Most Americans believe the new legislation aimed at reducing gun violence should be prioritized over protecting gun rights amid a deadly spate of mass shootings in the country, according to a new poll.

The ABC/Ipsos poll, which comes in the wake of a deadly string of mass shootings in the United States, said 7 out of 10 people in the country prioritize laws reducing gun violence over gun rights.

The poll showed only 21 percent or less than one-third of those interviewed believed that gun rights should be a higher priority than reducing gun violence in the country.

Most Democrats said lawmakers should prioritize laws focused on reducing gun violence while about half of the Republican respondents said protecting the rights of gun owners is a higher priority. 

The poll was conducted from June 3 to 4 as the country mourned those killed in multiple mass shootings, including 10 at a grocery store in New York 21 at an elementary school in Texas.

On Saturday, another 9 people were killed and dozens wounded in a string of mass shootings across the US.

Read more:

Nine dead in three mass shootings across United States
21 killed, including 18 children, in shooting at Texas elementary school
Five dead after hospital campus shooting in Tulsa, Oklahoma

US President Joe Biden has repeatedly called on lawmakers to draw up stricter gun laws.

In an appeal to Congress last week, Biden asked to address gun violence by passing laws to expand background checks, implement a national red flag law system and ban the sale of assault-style rifles.

"How much more carnage are we willing to accept,” he said in a passionate appeal.

Biden urged Republican lawmakers in particular to end their blockade of measures and legislation allowing stricter gun control.

Christopher Scott Murphy, who is leading bipartisan gun reform talks in the Senate, said on Sunday that any potential deal on legislation would not include an assault weapons ban or “comprehensive” background checks.

“We’re not going to do everything I want,” he was quoted as saying by CNN.

“We’re not going to put a piece of legislation on the table that’s going to ban assault weapons, or we’re not going to pass comprehensive background checks,” he said. “But right now, people in this country want us to make progress. They just don’t want the status quo to continue for another 30 years.”

The political debate over gun control has been one of the most divisive issues in US society for decades.

The issues of gun control have culminated in multi-million dollar lobbying campaigns, Congressional standoffs, and mass demonstrations of those for and against gun laws.

The root of the debate is a single sentence in the US Constitution, where the Second Amendment says: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

A dispute on the interpretation of the Second Amendment separates the Democrats, who believe in stricter gun control, from the Republicans, who see any such legislation as an infringement on their gun rights.


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