(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Adults in the United States are split on whether their country requires new firearm legislation, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports. 45 per cent of respondents think the U.S. needs stricter gun control laws, while 37 per cent disagree.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Adults in the United States are split on whether their country requires new firearm legislation, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports. 45 per cent of respondents think the U.S. needs stricter gun control laws, while 37 per cent disagree.
On Apr. 16, Cho Seung-hui killed 32 people—fellow students and teachers—at the Virginia Tech University campus in two separate incidents, before turning his gun on himself. The shooting is the deadliest of its kind in American history. 37 per cent of respondents have a positive opinion of the way the university handled the emergency, while 49 per cent deem it fair or poor.
In April 1999, two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, killed 12 classmates and a teacher before killing themselves in a high school in Columbine, Colorado. The Centers for Disease Control reported in 2002 that there were 220 school-related shootings in the United States from 1994 to 1999, resulting in 253 deaths.
On Apr. 24, John DeStefano Jr., current mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, spoke in support of enacting state gun legislation that will make it easier to trace the origin of weapons used in violent crimes. Connecticut’s Judiciary Committee is currently revising a bill that would require gun owners to report the loss or theft of a firearm within 72 hours of when they discover, or should have discovered, that it is missing. The legislation also penalizes the poor storage of guns that could lead to easy theft.
DeStefano voiced support for the bill, saying, “Something needs to be done on the other end to keep guns from landing in the hands of criminals. (…) If a legal gun owner isn’t reporting that their gun is missing, they are allowing the weapon to make its way into neighbourhoods. That’s unacceptable.”
Polling Data
Does the United States need stricter gun control laws?
Yes | 45% |
No | 37% |
How would you rate the way in which Virginia Tech University handled the incident?
Excellent | 11% |
Good | 26% |
Fair | 33% |
Poor | 16% |
Source: Rasmussen Reports
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 American adults, conducted on Apr. 18 and Apr. 19, 2007. Margin of error is 4 per cent.
