28% Favor Restricting Gun Ownership to Police and Government Officials

Twenty-eight percent (28%) of voters favor a proposal to prohibit everyone except police and government officials from owning a gun. A Scott Rasmussen national survey found that 65% are opposed.

Those totals include 14% who Strongly Favor the proposal and 49% who are Strongly Opposed.

Eighty-one percent (81%) of Republicans oppose the idea of allowing only government officials to own guns. So do 66% of Independents.

Democrats are more evenly divided. In fact, 43% of those in President Biden’s party support the ban on gun ownership for anyone other than police and government officials. Still, a bare majority of Democrats (51%) are opposed.

Black voters are evenly divided on the question. A majority of White voters and a plurality of Hispanic voters are opposed to allowing only government officials to own guns.

Those with a postgraduate degree are evenly divided. Forty-six percent (46%) favor the gun ban while 48% are opposed. Those without an advanced degree oppose the ban by a 69% to 24% margin.

When it comes to reducing violence in America, 53% of voters believe having the police crackdown on gang activity would be more effective than placing restrictions on gun ownership. Thirty-five percent (35%) take the opposite view.

That’s another issue where voters with a postgraduate degree have views that are significantly different than the rest of the population.  By a 50% to 39% margin, those with an advanced degree believe restricting gun ownership is the best way to reduce violence.  All other voters, by a 56% to 32% margin, take the opposite view.

Data released earlier found that 55% believe the “defund the police” movement led to increased crime in major U.S. cities.

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Note: Neither Scott Rasmussen, ScottRasmussen.com, nor RMG Research, Inc. have any affiliation with Rasmussen Reports. While Scott Rasmussen founded that firm, he left more than seven years ago and has had no involvement since that time.

Methodology

The survey of 1,200 Registered Voters was conducted by Scott Rasmussen using a mixed mode approach from July 8-10, 2021. Field work for the survey was conducted by RMG Research, Inc. Most respondents were contacted online or via text while 231 were contacted using automated phone polling techniques. Online respondents were selected from a list of Registered Voters and through a process of Random Digital Engagement. Certain quotas were applied, and the sample was lightly weighted by geography, gender, age, race, education, internet usage, and political party to reasonably reflect the nation’s population of Registered Voters. Other variables were reviewed to ensure that the final sample is representative of that population.

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