June 22 (UPI) -- Though most Americans have been exposed to guns in their personal lives, a new survey shows there are deep divides separating gun owners and non-gun owners on matters of policy.
According to the Pew Research Center, more than two-thirds of Americans said at some point in their lives they have lived in a home where there is a gun. Slightly more, 70 percent, said they have fired a gun.
Though a large majority of Americans have interacted with guns -- the broad strokes of the survey did not delineate between handguns, hunting rifles or semi-automatic assault-style rifles -- opinions on them and how they should be regulated differed.
The divisions begin with attitudes about gun ownership. Seventy-four percent of gun owners said the right to own a gun is essential to their freedom, while just 36 percent of non-owners said the same thing.
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Two-thirds of gun owners said they have one for their own protection, by far the largest reason cited. Hunting is the second most common reason for gun ownership, at 38 percent.
One area of broad agreement on gun policy is limiting access for the mentally ill. Both 89 percent of gun owners and non-gun owners said gun regulations should prevent someone diagnosed with a mental illness from being able to purchase a firearm.
On other regulations, there are significant disagreements. Eighty percent of non-gun owners said there should be a federal database tracking all gun sales, a sentiment shared by 54 percent of gun owners. Seventy-seven percent of non-gun owners support banning assault-style weapons, while 48 percent of gun owners agreed with the proposal.
Sixty-six percent of gun owners said teachers should be allowed to carry guns in schools, a position shared by just 35 percent of non-gun owners. Two-in-three gun owners said concealed carry laws should generally be expanded to include more places, while slightly fewer than one-in-three non-gun owners agreed.
The gun debate also cuts across partisan lines. Republicans or Republican-leaning independents are more than twice as likely to own a gun (44 percent) as Democrats or Democratic leaners (20 percent). The policy differences between gun owners and non-gun owners are largely mirrored by the ones that exist between Republicans and Democrats, the Pew survey shows.
The poll was conducted in two periods, from March 13-27 and April 4-18. It included 3,930 individuals who participated in both periods. The margin of error is 2.8 percentage points.
