Public Support for the Federal Gun Control Legislation

The new federal gun control legislation continues to receive the Canadian public's broad endorsement: two-thirds of Canadians overall voice at least moderate support for the gun control measures, echoing the level of support recorded for the then-proposed legislation in the spring of 1995.

These findings emerged from a National Angus Reid/Southam News Poll conducted among a representative cross-section of 1,504 Canadians between December 9th and 1th, 1996.

The highlights of the poll findings on gun control include:

• Two in three (65%) surveyed Canadians expressed support for the federal government's new gun control legislation - indeed, a large plurality of 44 percent were "strongly" supportive, and another 21 percent said they "moderately" support this legislation. This compares to a total of 29 percent who voiced their opposition (19% strongly opposed, 10% moderately opposed). (Table 1a and Table 1b) This current level of public support for the gun control legislation is unchanged from an Angus Reid Group sounding taken in late May 1995, before the legislation was passed in the House of Commons that summer. (The question wording has been altered slightly for this 1996 sounding to reflect the legislation's passage.)
• Clear majority support for the gun control legislation can be found in almost all major regions of the country: British Columbia (58% strongly or moderately support), Ontario (67%), Atlantic Canada (62%, up from 46% in the spring 1995 survey) and, consistent with pre-passage soundings, especially in Quebec (79%, with "strong" support indicated by fully 62% of respondents from this province). Residents of the Prairies remain less enthusiastic: in Manitoba/Saskatchewan, a slim majority (51%) of those surveyed voiced opposition versus 44 percent in favour; meanwhile, opinion was split among residents of Alberta (48% support, 46% oppose).
• Across other segments of the Canadian population, support for the gun control legislation remains stronger among women than men (72% versus 58%), and tends to increase with higher levels of formal education (57% among respondents with less than a high school education, climbing to 75% of those with a complete university degree).
• Further analysis reveals widespread support among surveyed Canadians living in non-gun households (73%, with fully 50% "strongly" support), as well as solid support among those who do not personally own a working firearm but live with someone who does (60%). In sharp contrast, and consistent with the May 1995 polling, most (73%) gun owners participating in this poll said they are opposed to the legislation (56% strongly, 17% moderately).

This National Angus Reid/Southam News Poll was conducted by telephone between December 9th and 15th, 1996 among a representative cross-section of 1504 Canadian adults.

The actual number of completed interviews in each region was as follows: B.C. - 201; Alberta - 135; Manitoba/Saskatchewan - 121; Ontario - 526; Quebec - 401; Atlantic - 120. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 1991 Census data.

With a national sample of 1504, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the results are within ±2.5 percentage points of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population.

For more information on this release, please contact

Darrell Bricker
Senior Vice President
Angus Reid Group
(613) 241-5802

John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Angus Reid Group
(416) 324-2900