More voters support assault weapons ban over arming citizens to reduce violence: poll

More U.S. voters support banning assault weapons over arming citizens to reduce gun violence, according to a Fox News poll released on Thursday.

While 45 percent of those surveyed said they would encourage more citizens to carry guns to defend against attackers, 61 percent said they favored banning assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons.

Huge majorities in the poll also supported a wide variety of gun safety measures, including 87 percent who said they backed requiring background checks for all gun purchases.

Another 81 percent supported improving enforcement of gun laws and raising the legal minimum age to buy guns to 21, the poll found.

Eight in 10 also said that mental health checks should be required for all gun buyers and that police should temporarily be able to take guns away from people who have been shown to be a danger to themselves or others.

However, despite widespread support for such measures, only 43 percent said stricter gun control laws would make the country safer, while one-quarter said it would make the U.S. less safe, the poll found.

Renewed discussion about gun safety laws comes as the U.S. continues to reel from almost daily mass shootings. There have been 172 mass shootings so far in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

The Fox News poll was conducted April 21-24 with 1,004 registered voters and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.