Less Than 15% Want U.S. Gun Laws To Be Less Strict

The charts above were made from a recent Gallup Poll, done between October 12th and 15th of a random national sample of 1,017 adults (with a 4 point margin of error). The title Gallup gave their poll release was "Less Than Half Of Americans Support Stricter Gun Laws", making it sound like Americans agree with the NRA -- and even oppose closing the loopholes in the background check law. And that is just not true.

I got a different idea from the information they released -- that about half of all Americans want stricter gun laws, while only a tiny percentage (less than 15%) think the NRA is right and gun laws should be less strict in this country. Although red-state Republicans are loosening gun laws and restrictions, they are pandering to a tiny portion of the population -- and most Americans (86%) disagree with that.

I think it should be pointed out that this poll did not specifically ask the respondents if they supported closing the loopholes in the background check law. They asked a much more general question -- Should the laws on the sale of guns be stricter. That question could include many other things (like registration of guns, restriction of the kind of guns that could be sold, restriction of the number of guns that could be bought, restriction on the amount of ammo a clip can hold when buying a gun, etc.) -- and still nearly half of the public agreed the laws should be stricter.

If they had asked just about the closing of the loopholes in the background check law, the percentages in favor would have been much higher (probably over 3 out of every 4 people, as numerous polls have shown).