{"id":14949,"date":"2013-12-12T13:05:48","date_gmt":"2013-12-12T18:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/a-year-after-newtown-little-change-in-public-opinion-on-guns\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:26:04","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:26:04","slug":"a-year-after-newtown-little-change-in-public-opinion-on-guns","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/12\/12\/a-year-after-newtown-little-change-in-public-opinion-on-guns\/","title":{"rendered":"A year after Newtown, little change in public opinion on guns"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the horrific shootings<\/a> at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., a year ago claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults, there was a sense in the country \u2013 especially among gun-control supporters\u00a0\u2013 that the tragedy would be different from similar ones in the past and push the nation to action. But ultimately, a sustained change in public opinion did not materialize, and a bill to tighten gun laws died in the Senate<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

The idea that Newtown might lead to a sea change in public opinion on gun control had some basis in a Pew Research Center survey<\/a> conducted less than a week after the shootings. About half of Americans (49%) said it was more important to control gun ownership while 42% said it was more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns. Although the numbers added up to just a modest change, it was the first time during Barack Obama\u2019s presidency that more Americans came down on the side of making gun control the priority.<\/p>\n\n

\n

\"FT_13.12.12_Newtown1yrlater_640\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n\n

Another survey conducted right after the shootings found that Americans viewed Newtown differently than they did the movie theater shootings in Aurora, Colo., in 2012<\/a> that left 12 dead and the Jan. 2011 Tucson, Ariz., shootings<\/a> that killed six people and seriously wounded former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 13 others.<\/p>\n\n

After Newtown, 47% of those surveyed said that the shootings reflected broader problems in American society, while 44% believed they were isolated acts of troubled individuals. In the two other mass shooting incidents, the public largely viewed them as isolated acts.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

In the following months, surveys also found strong support for making private gun sales and sales at gun shows subject to background checks. A Washington Post\/ABC News poll<\/a>\u00a0conducted in early March of this year produced a finding much-quoted by advocates of tighter background checks \u2013 that 91% supported a law requiring checks on people buying guns at gun shows. Obama took note of that<\/a> in an April speech in Denver, saying \u201cThink about it:\u00a0 How often do 90 percent of Americans agree on anything?\u201d<\/p>\n\n

But later that month, the Senate bill on background checks went down to defeat<\/a> when advocates couldn\u2019t muster the 60 votes necessary to pass it. And in May<\/a>, the overall trend on whether it was more important to control gun ownership or protect gun rights edged back in the direction of gun rights.<\/p>\n\n

Why did the gun bill fail after Newtown? Pew Research\u2019s poll<\/a> in May, after the defeat, still found wide support for the idea of expanded background checks \u2014 81% favored them, with nearly equal levels of support from Democrats and Republicans.<\/p>\n\n

But the specific bill<\/a> put forward in the Senate by West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin and Pennsylvania Republican Pat Toomey was more divisive.\u00a0While 81% of Republicans favored expanding background checks, just 57% supported the bill<\/a>. Many of those who had reservations about the bill expressed concerns that it included other restrictions about background checks, or would lead to a “slippery slope” toward more government power.<\/p>\n\n

Also at play was the greater political involvement of conservative Republicans and gun owners who prioritized protecting gun rights.<\/p>\n\n

A quarter of those who prioritized gun rights said they had given money to an organization taking a position on the issue and 12% of them had done so in the previous six months. By comparison, just 6% of those prioritizing gun control had donated to a group, with only 3% doing so in the previous six months.<\/p>\n\n

Conservative Republicans are also more likely to base their vote on where a candidate stands on gun policy. While only 36% of Americans overall said they would not vote for a candidate who disagrees with them on gun policy even if the candidate agreed with them on most other issues, that share rises to 47% for conservative Republicans. The percentage is smaller for liberal Democrats (37%) and conservative\/moderate Democrats (31%).<\/p>\n\n

By the same token, 52% of gun owners who prioritize gun rights would not vote for a candidate who disagreed with them on the issue. A smaller number of non-gun owners (33%) said they would not vote for a candidate who disagreed with them on gun policy.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the horrific shootings at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., a year ago claiming the lives of 20 children and six adults, there was a sense in the country \u2013 especially among gun-control supporters — that the tragedy would be different from similar ones in the past and push the nation to action. But ultimately, a sustained change in public opinion did not materialize, and a bill to tighten gun laws died in the Senate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_crdt_document":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[104],"bylines":[859],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[520],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-14949","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-gun-policy","bylines-bruce-drake","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-politics"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":679,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/12\/12\/a-year-after-newtown-little-change-in-public-opinion-on-guns\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"A year after Newtown, little change in public opinion on guns","description":"After the horrific shootings at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., a year ago claiming the lives of 20 children and six adults, there was a sense in the country \u2013 especially among gun-control supporters -- that the tragedy would be different from similar ones in the past and push the nation to action. 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