Gun Restrictions

The percentage of Americans who favor stricter gun laws is on the rise, though significant partisan divisions persist. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in September found that 60% of Americans say gun laws should be tougher, up from 57% last year and 52% in 2017.

Two months and a day after Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced he was working on a plan to address gun violence in the wake of a mass shooting in Dayton, he unveiled a bill Monday he says lawmakers will approve. 

The City of Columbus is asking the Ohio Supreme Court to rule individuals have no right to sue the city to overturn gun restrictions. 

More than 36 hundred people have written letters, emails and made phone calls to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine in the month following the Dayton shootings. 

The CEOs of 145 companies issued a new call for gun safety Thursday, sending a letter to members of the Senate on Thursday stating that it is "simply unacceptable" to do nothing about gun violence and mass shootings in the U.S.

Saying the country is in a public health crisis, the CEOs say new laws that would require background checks on all gun sales "are a common-sense solution with overwhelming public support and are a critical step toward stemming the gun violence epidemic in this country."

Updated at 2:53 p.m. ET

There is widespread support among Americans — Democrats, Republicans and gun owners alike — for a number of initiatives to curb gun violence they would like to see Congress pass, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll.

Laws that would screen for the types of people who could use a gun are broadly popular, but when it comes to bans on certain types of weapons and ammunition, a divide emerges.

Updated at 1:25 p.m. ET

The National Rifle Association is suing the city and county of San Francisco and its Board of Supervisors over a unanimous vote to designate the NRA a domestic terrorist organization. The pro-gun group says lawmakers are trying to discriminate against people "based on the viewpoint of their political speech."

A House committee will take up legislation on Tuesday aimed at preventing mass shootings, as lawmakers and the White House move to respond to a recent spate of attacks across the country.

The bills being considered by the House Judiciary Committee include measures that would limit access to high-capacity gun magazines and block any person convicted of a hate crime from obtaining a firearm.

Cincinnati-based Kroger says it will no longer allow customers to openly carry guns in its stores. 

President Trump said he is willing to get behind some changes to background checks for gun buyers as long as Democrats don't move the goalposts and lead him down a "slippery slope."

The president told reporters on Wednesday that he continues to support new or altered checks, without going into detail, and he acknowledged that he has been taking counsel on the issue from the National Rifle Association.

Strong majorities of Americans from across the political spectrum support laws that allow family members or law enforcement to petition a judge to temporarily remove guns from a person who is seen to be a risk to themselves or others, according to a new APM Research Lab/Guns & America/Call To Mind survey.

The nation's foremost public health agency shies away from discussing the important link in this country between suicide and access to guns.

That's according to documents obtained by NPR that suggest the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention instead relies on vague language and messages about suicide that effectively downplay and obscure the risk posed by firearms.

Guns in the United States kill more people through suicide than homicide.

Gov. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, is calling for a version of the "red flag" law, expanded background checks, and other gun control proposals in response to the mass shooting in Dayton over the weekend that left nine people dead. These proposals represent a dramatic shift in the way Ohio's state leadership has handled gun policies for most of the decade.

The National Rifle Association's sway in the nation's capital may be waning at a time when two mass shootings in Ohio and Texas are reigniting the debate about enacting new gun restrictions.

In the past few months, the gun rights group's president stepped aside; its top lobbyist resigned; and allegations of financial misconduct at the highest levels of the group have burst into the open.

President Trump went before cameras on Monday in highly anticipated remarks following the mass shootings in Ohio and Texas over the weekend. In his remarks at the White House, Trump used the words "domestic terrorism" and "white supremacy." He did not acknowledge his own rhetoric.

The president targeted violent video games and drew a connection between mass shootings and mental health, though the research does not back up his assertions.

Updated at 5:01 p.m. ET

President Trump, responding Monday to the deadly weekend shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, that killed 31 people, condemned white supremacy and called for the death penalty for mass murderers and domestic terrorists.

Speaking at the White House, Trump said the nation is "overcome with shock, horror and sorrow."

The 10th Ohio District Court of Appeals says two pro-gun groups who sued to try and block Columbus' bump stock ban have no standing to do so.