1999 National Gun Policy Survey of the National Opinion Research Center:
Research Findings

A majority of Americans support having Congress hold hearings on the gun industry, and they want federal regulation of the design and manufacture of guns to protect the public safety.

The findings come from the 1999 National Gun Policy Survey, by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research and the Joyce Foundation.

"Americans favor all measures to regulate firearms short of prohibiting guns in general," said Tom Smith. "First, most people, including most gun owners, believe there should be a set of common-sense regulations to control firearms, just as there are for automobiles. Second, most people's motto when it comes to firearms appears to be ‘safety first.' Gun safety is a concern of the vast majority of people."

Among the survey's findings:

• Subject the Gun Industry to Congressional Hearings: Three-quarters of Americans (74.5 percent) and over half of gun owners (54 percent) think Congress should hold hearings to investigate the practices of the gun industry similar to the hearings held in recent years regarding the tobacco industry.
• Federally Regulate Guns for Quality and Safety: Both the general public and gun owners support federal regulation of guns, which are at present virtually the only consumer product not subject to federal safety regulation. The NORC/Hopkins/Joyce survey found that:
• 94 percent of all Americans, and 91 percent of gun owners, favor having handguns made in the United States meet the same quality and safety standards required of imported handguns.
• 86 percent of all Americans, and 86 percent of gun owners, endorse this position even if it would make handguns more expensive.
• 66 percent of all Americans, and 52 percent of gun owners, want the federal government to regulate the safety design of guns.
• Mandate Specific Safety Features and Practices: Americans strongly support a broad range of measures to make guns safer.
• Eighty-six percent of Americans, and three quarters of gun owners, want guns designed so that small children cannot fire them.
• Nearly three-quarters of Americans and majorities of gun owners support requirements that guns be stored locked and unloaded and that trigger locks be used.
• Sixty-three percent of Americans and 51 percent of gun owners back having all new handguns be personalized so that only the owner can fire them.
• Require Background Checks on All Private Gun Sales: Nearly eight out of 10 Americans (79 percent) and two thirds of gun owners would favor a law that requires private gun sales to be subject to the same background check requirements as sales by licensed dealers.

Current law exempts private individuals who sell at gun shows from performing a background check, while licensed dealers selling at gun shows must comply with the background check requirement.

"Regulating firearms as consumer products and preventing criminals from easily obtaining firearms are two strategies to reduce gun violence that most everyone can agree on," said Stephen Teret, Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, who helped design the survey. "In pushing forward initiatives that achieve these goals, policymakers should be confident that they have the support of the majority of Americans."

"The overriding message here is that Americans--gun owners and non-gun owners alike--want Congress to enact policies that will protect them and their families from gun-related death and injury," said Joyce Foundation Program Officer Roseanna Ander. "Americans want Congressional hearings to investigate gun industry practices, just as we had for tobacco. And they want Congress to end the exemptions from product safety standards that this industry enjoys."

The National Gun Policy Survey is the most comprehensive survey on national gun attitudes in the United States and includes questions on gun ownership, support for gun-control measures, support for gun safety measures and beliefs, prohibiting gun purchases to criminals convicted of various crimes, illegal gun use, and miscellaneous beliefs and issues.

The 1999 National Gun Policy Survey (NGPS), the fourth annual survey, was conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research and The Joyce Foundation. The NGPS is a random-digit-dial telephone survey of 1,182 adults representative of the US population in the fall of 1999. It has a sampling variation of +/-3 and a response rate of 58.9 percent. The NGPS was funded by the Joyce Foundation.

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