Californians want more restrictions on gun sales, new survey shows
A new survey shows that Californians overwhelmingly continue to favor stricter gun sale laws.
Two-thirds of Californians, 68 percent, say laws covering the sale of guns should be more stringent, according to a poll from the Public Policy Institute of California.
Just 10 percent say gun sale laws should be less strict, while another 19 percent said the laws should be kept as they are now, according to the survey.
This marks little difference from attitudes last year. An October 2018 poll found 64 percent favored stricter laws, according to PPIC.
“It’s remained high over time,” said PPIC President Mark Baldassare.
Support for stricter laws varies based on political affiliation, with Democrats (87 percent) and independents (58 percent) favoring tighter restrictions. Meanwhile, 44 percent of Republicans say they want the laws kept as is.
Months after the mass shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, nearly four in 10 Californians said they are very concerned about a mass shooting happening in their area. This marks a 20 percentage point increase since January 2016.
“I was struck by the level of fear around mass shootings,” Baldassare said.
The survey found a stark divide in fear based on race and gender.
Latinos (76 percent) and African Americans (74 percent) were much more likely to be concerned about mass shootings than were Asian Americans (67 percent) or whites (56 percent).
Women (74 percent) were more likely to fear a mass shooting would happen in their area than were men (56 percent).
A majority of people in each of the regions surveyed by PPIC said they were at least somewhat concerned about a mass shooting happening in their area, from 71 percent in Los Angeles to 69 percent in Inland Empire, 67 percent in the Bay Area, 60 percent in the Central Valley and 58 percent in the Orange County and San Diego area.
PPIC interviewed 1,705 adult California residents, including 1,031 likely voters, by cellphone and landline between Sept. 16-25 for the survey.
This story was originally published October 2, 2019 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Californians want more restrictions on gun sales, new survey shows."
