Poll Conducted After Shooting Shows More Support for Stricter Gun Laws A CBS News poll conducted in the aftermath of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., finds a significant increase in the number of Americans supporting stricter gun control laws. Two other polls showed that far more people say the school shootings reflect broader societal problems rather than the isolated act of a troubled individual. That was not the case in Pew polls conducted after some other recent shootings. Fifty-two percent said so in the ABC News/Washington Post poll and 47 percent in the Pew survey, up from 24 percent after the Aurora, Colo., shooting in July and 31 percent after the one in Tucson in January 2011 that killed six people and seriously injured Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Views today are more similar to those after the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech, when 46 percent felt the incident reflected broader problems in American society. The CBS News poll, conducted Dec. 14 to 16, asked if "gun control laws should be made more strict, less strict or kept as they are now." Fifty-seven percent of respondents say they should be made more strict, up significantly from 39 percent in a CBS News poll in April. Three in 10 in the latest poll say laws should be kept as they are now (41 percent in April said they should be kept as they are), while 9 percent say they should be made less strict. At the same time however, many Americans are dubious that stricter laws would have helped prevent Friday's shootings. Just over 4 in 10 say they would have done a lot (26 percent) or a little (16 percent) to prevent the violence. Half of respondents say stricter gun laws would have had no effect. Nearly as many Americans said stricter laws would have prevented the shootings in Tucson, but more than half said so after the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech. Partisanship is a factor in views of gun control laws. More than three-quarters of Democrats support stricter laws. That drops to just under half of independents and fewer than 4 in 10 Republicans. Democrats are far more likely than others to say stricter laws would have helped prevent the shootings. In a somewhat differently worded question on gun control in the ABC/Post poll, also conducted Dec. 14 to 16, respondents were asked if they "favor or oppose stricter gun control laws in this country." The poll finds 54 percent in favor of stricter laws, little changed from polls conducted by those organizations in the last few years. The ABC/Post poll finds increased intensity of sentiment on the side of supporters of stricter gun control laws. Forty-four percent are strongly in favor of stricter laws, while 32 percent are strongly opposed - the largest gap between the two in ABC/Post polls since 2007. The poll also finds just over half of the public, 52 percent, supporting a ban on semiautomatic handguns and 59 percent supporting a ban on high-capacity ammunition clips. But banning the sale of handguns, except to law enforcement officers, is opposed by 71 percent.