Eighty-five percent (85%) of voters believe that gun violence is a serious problem in America today, including 80% of gun owners.
However, there is a high level of misunderstanding surrounding this issue. For example, just 54% of voters know that gang violence leads to more gun deaths each year than school shootings. In fact, there are approximately 50-100 gang related deaths for every school shooting victim.
This is not to take away from the gravity and horror of any death by gun violence, but to highlight that in order to fully address a problem it is important to understand the true nature of the issue.
As an example of how understanding the true nature of the problem can impact perceptions, 52% of voters believe requiring background checks would significantly reduce gun violence and mass shootings. Just 29% disagree.
That’s partly because only 58% know that background checks are already required for most gun purchases. When informed of that fact, the number who think requiring background checks for all gun purchases would reduce gun violence falls 13 points to 39%.
This Napolitan News Service survey of 1,000 Registered Voters was conducted online by Scott Rasmussen on October 14-15, 2024. Field work for the survey was conducted by RMG Research, Inc. and has a margin of error of +/- 3.1.