PND (7/25/2000) -- Joyce Foundation Funds Gun Policy Survey

A new survey funded by the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation finds that a majority of Americans support having Congress hold hearings on the gun industry, and want federal regulation of the design and manufacture of guns to protect the public safety.

The 1999 National Gun Policy Survey (NGPS), the fourth such annual survey, was conducted 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. The NGPS is a random-digit- dial telephone survey of 1,182 adults representative of the U.S. population in the fall of 1999. (For complete results of the 1999 Survey, visit http://www.norc.uchicago.edu/online/gunrpt.htm.

"Americans favor all measures to regulate firearms short of prohibiting guns in general," said NORC’s general social survey director Tom W. 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."

"Americans Want Congress to Hold Hearings on Gun Industry, Begin Regulating Guns for Quality and Safety, Survey Shows." Joyce Foundation News Release 7/20/2000.

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