Poll: Gun-Control Views Unchanged by Tucson

Americans’ position on gun control has been effectively unchanged by the shooting in Tuscon that killed six and sent Rep. Gabrielle Giffords into brain surgery, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center for People & the Press. Some 49 percent of Americans say it’s more important to protect the right to own a gun, whereas 46 percent feel it’s more important to control gun ownership—those numbers were 50 percent and 46 percent, respectively, in September 2010, and remain essentially unchanged. The country is divided along stark partisan lines on the issue, with roughly three times as many Democrats supporting gun control over gun rights, and vice versa for the GOP.