70% Of Americans Support Gun Restrictions Over Gun Rights

A new ABC News/Ipsos poll found that seven in 10 people feel that gun legislation should be prioritized over gun rights following devastating shootings last month in Buffalo, New York, which left 10 dead in a grocery store and Uvalde, Texas, where a shooter killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school.

Out of those polled, 29% said they thought gun rights should be the priority.

Separating those surveyed into parties, 90% of Democrats and 75% of Independents agreed that lawmakers should focus on legislation aimed at reducing gun violence. The majority of Republicans, or 56%, held gun rights as a higher priority.

President Joe Biden called on lawmakers to pass “commonsense” gun laws in an address to the nation last Thursday. He advocated for expanding background checks and enacting federal red flag laws.

The House Judiciary Committee and a bipartisan group in the Senate are working toward finding measures that could gain support in the evenly split Senate. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) is one of the senators trying to find common ground.

“We’re not going to do everything I want,” Murphey said on a Sunday appearance on CNN’s State of the Union. “We’re not going to put a piece of legislation on the table that’s going to ban assault weapons, or we’re not going to pass comprehensive background checks,” he said. “But right now, people in this country want us to make progress. They just don’t want the status quo to continue for another 30 years.”