Gun Policy

A Draft report prepared by Frank Newport, Resty Fufunan, Josearmando Torres, and Tiffany S. Neman. 

First drafted: March 2026; latest draft May 7, 2026.

Polling data cited in this report were drawn from multiple sources. Where applicable, survey data were accessed through Roper iPoll, provided by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University. Additional data were obtained from publicly available sources.

This report reviews, analyzes, and summarizes current American public opinion on gun policy, providing a synthesis of high-quality public opinion survey data focused on gun-related policy issues. As with most policy issues, public opinion about gun policy cannot be adequately measured by single poll questions. The public's attitudes are complicated and contingent. The most effective way to summarize where Americans stand on gun policy issues is to analyze multiple results across surveys and across question wordings. This constitutes the objective of this Public Pulse report.

The sections that follow provide an Executive Summary, a review of Research Needs and Gaps, and summaries of key findings related to seven specific gun policy subtopics.