May 23, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in the United States believe handguns should not be banned, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. 59 per cent of respondents would oppose a law that would prohibit the sale of these weapons, up four points since last year.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in the United States believe handguns should not be banned, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. 59 per cent of respondents would oppose a law that would prohibit the sale of these weapons, up four points since last year.

The U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment guarantees Americans the right "to keep and bear arms." Some American states have enacted their own gun control regulations, independent of existing federal legislation.

Earlier this month, Illinois senator Barack Obama—who is seeking the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination—discussed his views on guns, saying, "What I believe is that there is a Second Amendment right. I think it is an individual right. I think people have the right to lawfully bear arms. I do believe that there is nothing inconsistent with also saying that we can institute some common-sense gun laws so that we don’t have kids being shot on the streets of cities like Chicago, that we can institute strong background checks, that we can trace guns back to potential unscrupulous gun dealers who have pedaled them to people that shouldn’t be getting them."

Polling Data

Would you favour or oppose a law that banned the sale of handguns?

	Apr. 2008	Apr. 2007
Favour	36%	37%
Oppose	59%	55%
Unsure	5%	8%

Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,502 American adults, conducted from Apr. 23 to Apr. 27, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.