A majority of Minnesotans support stricter gun laws in the United States, including wide backing for a ban on military-style rifles and for raising the age for gun purchases from 18 to 21, a new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll has found.
An overwhelming 9 out of 10 Minnesota voters also favor mandatory criminal background checks on all gun sales, the poll shows, including those sold privately and at gun shows. And Minnesotans in every part of the state oppose the arming of schoolteachers, which some political leaders, including President Donald Trump, have suggested.
Beyond the consensus on those issues, however, the poll identified deep political and demographic divisions.
Support for tightening gun laws was strongest among women — 65 percent, compared to 46 percent among men — and among residents of Hennepin and Ramsey counties. Seventy-four percent of them endorsed stricter laws, as did 51 percent of those who live in the other metro suburbs. Across the rest of the state, fewer than half agreed.
America's long-running debate over guns has had renewed urgency since 17 people died in a Feb. 14 shooting at a Florida high school, setting off protests and nationwide demands for change.
Thousands of students across the country walked out of school again on Friday to protest gun violence, urging Congress and state legislatures to act. The walkouts also marked the passage of 19 years since the deaths of 13 people in a shooting at Colorado's Columbine High School.
The issue is particularly salient in Minnesota, which has a deeply rooted gun culture and many hunting and sport shooting enthusiasts. The poll found that there are firearms in half the state's households; the ratio nationwide is about 40 percent. In 45 percent of Minnesota households, someone has fired a weapon in the last year.
Michelle Marcil, a 47-year-old Blaine resident who participated in the poll, said her household fits in that last category. But she's ready for tighter laws.