Though there has been fierce disagreement over how to attack the nation's gun violence, there's at least one proposal on which everyone agrees.
More than 9 in 10 Americans — including 85 percent of NRA member households — support stricter background checks on potential gun buyers, according to a new CBS/New York Times poll released on Thursday.
The poll found that across party lines, there is wide support for blanket "stricter background checks" — 89 percent of Republicans and 93 percent of Democrats support it.
The NRA also signaled a change on the issue Thursday, with President David Keene tellingCBS that the association was "generally supportive" of more intensive background checks.
As part of his proposals to reduce gun violence on Wednesday, President Barack Obama unveiled steps to close loopholes that the White House said exempt nearly 40 percent of prospective buyers from purchasing guns. He outlined four executive actions signed Wednesday:
- Addressing unnecessary legal barriers in health laws that prevent some states from making information available about those prohibited from having guns.
- Improving incentives for states to share information with the system.
- Ensuring federal agencies share relevant information with the system.
- Directing the Attorney General to work with other agencies to review our laws to make sure they are effective at identifying the dangerous or untrustworthy individuals that should not have access to guns.
The poll also found that people think placing armed security officials in schools would help — overall, 74 percent of Americans thought that it would help reduce mass shootings "at least some."
That's a plan the NRA loosely advanced in a controversial press conference last month. As part of his plan, Obama advocated providing resources to allow schools to hire 1,000 "school resource officers."
See the White House's full proposal on guns >
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