While President Barack Obama and other gun-banners push a semi-auto rifle ban, a Gallup poll has found that more Americans believe expanding the right to carry would be more effective at preventing attacks like last Sunday’s in Orlando, Fla., than would new gun laws making it harder to buy semi-automatic firearms or limiting magazine capacities to 10 rounds.
The survey, conducted June 14-15, also asked respondents whether they viewed the Orlando attack more as an act of “Islamic terrorism” or an act of “domestic gun violence.” Overall, more Americans (48 percent) said they saw it as Islamic terrorism than domestic gun violence (41 percent). Split out by party affiliation, about eight out of 10 Republicans agreed with that assessment, but only about three out of 10 Democrats agreed.
The poll also found that two-thirds of respondents believed that increasing U.S. airstrikes against ISIS would help prevent such attacks, and even a majority of Democrats (57 percent) agreed that response would be effective.
