Support For Stricter Gun Laws Hits 7-Year Low

After mass shootings, it is typical to see a surge of support for stricter gun laws, but eventually that support fades.

According to new polls by Quinnipiac, Pew Research, and Gallup, people still favor implementing stricter federal gun laws in the U.S., but by a slim margin.

The Gallup poll revealed that 52% of people believe there should be stricter “laws covering the sales of firearms” than what currently exists. Gallup says that is the “lowest reading since 2014.”

Quinnipiac’s poll found U.S. voters were split, with 45% supporting stricter gun laws and 49% opposing them. A Pew Research poll done earlier this year found that 53% of people said gun laws should be stricter.

By political affiliation, Republicans overwhelmingly do not support stricter gun laws while Democrats overwhelmingly support such measures.

However, the number of mass shootings has not dwindled between 2014 and now, but Gallup did note an interesting trend that people's support for stricter gun laws dwindles when Democrats are in power but rises when Republicans are in charge.

Historically, calls for stricter gun control laws have grown louder following tragedies like Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland and other mass shootings that became synonymous with the movement, but those sentiments tend to fade with time.

The conversation surrounding gun laws was reignited in the wake of the verdict in the trial of 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, and the ongoing trial of three men who stand accused in the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, 25.

Rittenhouse was cleared of all charges after bringing an AR-15 to a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. He then shot three people, killing two, but he claimed self-defense and was found not guilty on all counts.

Arbery was followed by three men, Gregory, 65, and Travis McMichael, 35, and William Bryan, 52, in a truck and died after the younger McMichael shot him. The case has yet to produce a verdict.