Support for gun control just hit its lowest point in almost a decade
by Chris Cillizza
November 23, 2021
In the wake of the 2018 mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, a new generation of teen activists emerged who insisted that the old boom/bust cycle of gun control politics in this country was no more.
Gone would be the public's short attention span on the need for more restrictions on gun sales and gun ownership. And in its place would be a sustained campaign to keep the issues of guns -- and the mass shootings committed with them -- front and center in the public's mind.
Almost four years on from Parkland, however, a familiar cycle has asserted itself.
Just 52% of Americans polled now say that the "laws covering the sales of firearms" should be stricter than they currently are, the lowest number that Gallup has measured on the question since 2014.
That marks a remarkable erosion on the question from just three years ago as the country was still reeling from the 17 people killed in Parkland. At that point, two thirds of respondents favored more strict gun laws.
In 2019, there were still 64% of people who told Gallup they wanted stricter gun laws. That dropped to 57% in 2020 and now 52% in 2021.
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Meanwhile, Americans are buying more guns than ever before. In 2020, nearly 23 million guns were bought -- a record. That surge has continued through 2021.
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