Americans overwhelmingly prioritize gun control over ownership rights: poll

NEW YORK, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Seventy percent of Americans think enacting new gun control laws should take precedence over protecting ownership rights, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll out on Sunday.

"The findings indicate widespread support for stricter gun control laws in the wake of mass shootings in Buffalo, New York; Uvalde, Texas; and Tulsa, Oklahoma," said major U.S. news portal Axios in its report about the results.

On the flip side, 29 percent of respondents believe protecting the right to own a wide variety of guns should be a higher priority than enacting new gun control laws, the poll suggested.

The gap between the two positions has widened by nine points since March 2021, when the same poll found that 66 percent of people favored new gun control laws, while 34 percent preferred protecting gun ownership rights.

"The results were split along partisan lines, with 90 percent of Democrats and 75 percent of independents surveyed prioritizing new gun laws. Fifty-six percent of Republicans in the poll said protecting gun ownership rights takes priority," according to Axios.