Poll: 82 percent support a ban on bump stocks

More than eight in 10 Americans favor a ban on devices that allow gun owners to modify semi-automatic rifles to mimic the fire of automatic weapons, according to an NPR-Ipsos poll out Friday.

Eighty-two percent of respondents say that so-called “bump stocks” should be banned. Similar numbers favor banning assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds: 79 percent and 78 percent, respectively. 

The survey found that most Americans believe that gun laws should be at least a little stricter. Forty-five percent said that they should be a lot tighter, while another 23 percent said the policies should be somewhat stricter.

A poll released one day earlier by Quinnipiac University found similar results. Seventy-three percent in that survey supported banning bump stocks, while 60 percent support tougher gun laws, an all-time high for Quinnipiac. 

The findings come less than two weeks after a gunman opened fire on a Las Vegas music festival from his room in a nearby hotel — an attack that left 58 people dead and more than 500 others injured, marking it as the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. 

{mosads}The gunman, identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, had used bump stocks to modify the weapons he used to carry out the attack, allowing him to fire much more rapidly than he otherwise would have been able to.

The shooting touched off a renewed debate about gun control, with particular focus on whether to ban bump stocks. Already, Democrats and many Republicans have issued calls to prohibit the devices. 

Democrats have proposed anti-bump stock legislation, but GOP leaders say change should come on the regulatory level, specifically calling for action from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

On Thursday, the National Rifle Association announced its opposition to bills banning bump stocks, calling them “intentionally overreaching.” 

Despite the calls for stricter gun control laws, a narrow majority of Americans — 53 percent — believe that benefits of gun ownership outweigh the risks, according to the NPR-Ipsos poll, though respondents were largely divided along party lines. Seventy-two percent of Republicans agreed with that statement, while 60 percent of Democrats disagreed.

The poll was conducted online Oct. 10–11 among 1,006 U.S. adults. The poll did not have a margin of error.