Six in 10 Americans say having stricter gun control laws would not reduce the amount of violence or the number of gun-related deaths in the country, a new CNN/ORC poll said.
Sixty-one percent of respondents said having stricter controls would not reduce the amount of violence in the country, while 39 percent said having stricter controls would do so.
And 60 percent of respondents said having stricter laws would not reduce the number of gun-related deaths in the country, compared to 40 percent who said they would.
There was a sharp division along racial lines on both questions. More than 60 percent of blacks thought having stricter controls would reduce the amount of violence and the number of gun-related deaths, while 65 percent of whites said stricter laws would not reduce the number of gun-related deaths and 69 percent of whites said stricter laws would not reduce the amount of violence.
Sixty-four percent of Americans said shootings like the recent one in Charleston, in which nine people were shot in a historically black church, will happen again regardless of what action is taken by government and society. The accused gunman has ties to white supremacy, and a photo of him and the Confederate battle flag has surfaced online.
Thirty-five percent, meanwhile, said government and society can take action that will be effective in preventing shootings like the in Charleston from happening again. The breakdown was about even among blacks and whites.
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In his eulogy on Friday for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, one of the people kill in the Charleston shooting President Obama had issued a renewed call for gun control.
Most Americans — 53 percent — said they disapprove of Mr. Obama’s handling of gun policy, compared to 42 percent who said they approve.
Americans were split — 49 percent to 49 percent — on whether or not they favor stricter gun control laws.
Support for stricter gun control was up slightly from a September poll, when 44 percent said they favored stricter controls and 55 percent they opposed them. But it’s back down from the months immediately following the December 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, when a majority of Americans said they favored stricter laws.
The overall survey of 1,017 adults was taken from June 26-28 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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