MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (OSBORNE) -- A recent statewide poll shows significantly higher support for stricter laws governing gun sales in Tennessee.
The poll was conducted in March by Middle Tennessee State University and involved 600 randomly chosen registered voters.
The poll shows support for stronger gun laws jumped 34 points over a two year period. Poll Director Dr. Ken Blake says he used the same question on a 2016 poll.
“In general do you think laws covering the sale of guns should be made more strict, less strict, or kept as they are now.”
Fifty-eight percent of Tennesseans say those laws should be stricter, six percent said less strict and 33 percent said “kept as they are now.”
Dr. Blake says what isn’t clear is whether support for stronger gun control rose slowly, or spiked in recent months. He does note the poll was taken the same week rallies for stricter guns laws were being held nationwide.
“It’s probably not coincidental that you’re seeing this spike during a week when people, young people were in Washington DC and around the country protesting for stricter gun laws.”
WMOT called the Tennessee Firearms Association for a reaction. President John Harris told us he hadn’t seen the MTSU Poll, but notes that more than 600,000 Tennesseans have been issued handgun carry permits since 1996.
“Which tells us that in a population of only 6.6 million, that there’s a lot of people living in the state who want, not only to own firearms, but who want to carry them for whatever reason.”
Would you like to review the complete MTSU Poll?