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Zogby: Gun Control Won't Prevent Tragedy

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Most Americans don't believe that stricter U.S. gun control policies would help prevent tragedies such as this week's shootings at Virginia Tech, a new MSN-Zogby poll shows.

While 59 percent don't think stricter gun control policies would help, 36 percent believe they could make a difference by helping to prevent future shootings.

More than two in three Americans (69 percent) believe the recent shootings at Virginia Tech were the actions of a deranged man determined to inflict mayhem and could not have been prevented. But 16 percent believe stricter controls of guns and ammunition would have prevented the tragedy.

The interactive survey of 1,336 adults nationwide was conducted April 17-18 with a margin of error of +/- 2.7 percentage points.

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Younger adults are more likely than older adults to see stricter gun policies as a means of preventing shootings: among those 18 to 29 years of age, 39 percent say more stringent gun control could avert tragic shootings, compared to 26 percent of those age 65 and older.

But more than half (53 percent) of those age 18 to 29 say increased gun control won't help, a stance that becomes increasingly prevalent as adults get older. Nearly three in four (72 percent) of those age 65 and older don't think tighter gun control policies will prevent shootings.

Even if more people were allowed to carry guns for protection, 54 percent of Americans don't believe it would help prevent tragedies such as the mass shooting at Virginia Tech, the poll shows. But overall, 38 percent believe more armed Americans could prevent future tragedies.

The vast majority of Democrats (89 percent) don't believe more Americans carrying guns would prevent such shootings, compared to just one in four (24 percent) of Republicans. Most Republicans (65 percent) said they would favor arming more Americans, compared with just 6 percent of Democrats. Independents were most evenly split - 48 percent believe allowing more Americans to carry guns would help prevent shootings, while 44 percent disagree.

Nearly a quarter (21 percent) of Americans believe guns should not be regulated by the government, but 40 percent believe the federal government should take the lead in regulating firearms.

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