A fresh Gallup survey released Tuesday shows that a solid majority of Americans continue to back tighter firearm regulations, though the political divide on the issue remains as pronounced as ever. According to the poll, 56% of U.S. adults say gun laws should be more stringent, 27% believe they should remain as they are, and just 15% think they should be relaxed.
The share of Americans favoring stricter laws has remained relatively stable since late 2022, but Gallup's historical data reveals notable spikes following high-profile mass shootings. For instance, support jumped to 67% in March 2018, shortly after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and again to 68% after the tragic shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022.
Meanwhile, the proportion of those advocating for less stringent gun laws has climbed to a record high. In the aftermath of Parkland, support for looser restrictions bottomed out at just 5%, but it has since risen steadily, reaching 15% in the latest poll—the highest level Gallup has recorded.
Partisan chasm widens
The survey underscores the deep partisan gulf on gun policy. Nearly nine in ten Democrats (89%) say they want stricter gun laws, close to their all-time peak of 91% in 2021. Among independents, 54% favor stricter measures, a notable drop from 63% in 2025. Republicans, by contrast, are overwhelmingly opposed: only 16% support stricter laws, down from 26% last year.
Yet even among Republicans, there is little appetite for rolling back existing restrictions. Half of Republicans (50%) prefer to keep gun laws unchanged, and 31% now say they want less strict laws—more than double the share who said so in 2024. This marks a significant shift within the GOP base, as fewer Republicans are satisfied with the status quo.
Assault weapons ban remains divisive
One specific policy that garners broader support, but still splits along party lines, is a ban on assault weapons—defined as the manufacture, possession, or sale of such firearms. Overall, 54% of Americans support an assault weapons ban, including 75% of Democrats and 28% of Republicans. That 28% figure is notable, as it shows a meaningful minority of GOP voters backing a measure that many Republican lawmakers have long opposed.
The political landscape for gun legislation has shifted over the past decade, with only a few measures breaking through. After the 2017 Las Vegas shooting—the deadliest in U.S. history—the Trump administration moved to ban bump stocks, devices that enable semiautomatic rifles to fire at a faster rate. Even the National Rifle Association, which typically resists any gun control, voiced support for the ban at the time.
However, in 2024, the Supreme Court struck down the bump stock ban, ruling that the executive branch had overstepped its authority and that Congress would need to act. Following that decision, Senate Republicans blocked a bipartisan effort to outlaw bump stocks, dismissing it as a “political exercise” in an election year. The broader legislative gridlock on gun policy shows no signs of easing.
At the state level, assault weapons restrictions have gained some traction. Virginia, for example, passed a ban earlier this year, though it is already tied up in legal challenges. The Supreme Court has yet to rule on the constitutionality of such bans, leaving the issue unresolved.
The Gallup poll was conducted October 1–19 among 1,200 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
