Two-thirds of adults think state legislatures should pass stricter controls on gun purchases in the wake of a string of mass shootings in states including Tennessee, according to a USA Today/Ipsos poll conducted over the weekend.
The survey showed overwhelming support for such measures from Democrats, with 92 percent in support, and independents, with 72 percent. It found that less than half of Republicans support stricter state controls on gun purchases, with 59 percent opposed.
The public support for increased state controls on gun purchases come after a string of mass shooting events in the country have made headlines, including the attack on a private school in Tennessee that left three children and three adults dead. That shooting was just one of the 147 mass shootings that have happened in the country in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
The survey was conducted just before a shooting at a Louisville bank on Monday that left six people, including the shooter, dead.
In response to mass shootings, a number of Democratic-controlled states have moved to increase restrictions on assault weapons. Nine states — including California and New York, and the District of Columbia — have broad restrictions on assault weapons, according to Giffords Law Center. Washington state moved closer to joining that small bunch of states this week, with its Senate advancing a ban on the possession and sale of assault weapons in the state.
But in many states where gun violence has recently hit home, there has been little appetite for laws that restrict gun sales and possession in state legislatures. The dynamic came to a boiling point in the Tennessee legislature, where two Democratic lawmakers were expelled from the statehouse over their protests urging gun control on the House floor.
A majority of respondents to the survey said that the Republican decision to expel the two Democratic lawmakers from the legislature “was an anti-democratic abuse of power.” A 52 percent majority of respondents held that opinion, including 73 percent of Democrats and 52 percent of independents. A 63 percent majority of Republicans thought the expulsion was “an appropriate way to discipline legislators.”
The USA Today/Ipsos poll surveyed 1,016 adults from April 7-9 and had a margin of error of 3.3 percent.

Thehill