Large shift in Republican’s views on Gun Control over the last two years, Americans equally divided on whether more guns mean less crime or more crime

Recent surveys by Pew Research Center and Gallup have a couple of interesting findings. Americans are equally divided on whether more gun ownership leads to more or less crime or has no effect.

— The drop in support for gun control has been driven largely by changes in views among Republicans and those leaning Republican. In 2019, Republicans and those leaning Republican by a 31% to 20% margin supported stricter gun control as opposed to less strict regulations. In 2021, that had flipped to 27% supporting less strict regulations to 21% supporting stricter rules. That is about back to where Republicans were in 2017. The rest of the Republicans and those leaning Republican, that is a plurality of them, thought that existing gun control regulations were about right.

— While 66% of Republicans and those leaning Republican support allowing teachers to carry guns, only 24% of Democrats thought that was a good idea. It is too bad that these surveys don’t break down the numbers by whether the respondents have school age children, as past surveys show that those with children, the people whose views would seem most relevant, strongly supported the idea.

— “The public is even more divided about the effects of gun ownership on crime overall. Around a third (34%) say that if more people owned guns, there would be more crime. The same percentage (34%) say there would be no difference in crime, while 31% say there would be less crime.”

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