What to do about violence with guns? It depends on who in NJ you ask

A new Fairleigh Dickinson University-Public Mind Poll finds deep support in New Jersey for curbing gun violence — but big differences over how to accomplish that.

But poll director Krista Jenkins says better than 8 in 10 (81 percent) surveyed support banning anyone on a no-fly or terror watch list from buying a gun.

She says pollsters asked people to weigh in on whether they would support a number of policies, and which would be the most effective in curbing mass shootings.

According to Jenkins, the poll also shows strong support for "providing greater funding for mental health services; 73 percent support support that." She said 56 percent said they would support reducing gun magazine capacity.

Also, Jenkins said, a large majority in the survey see a strong link between gun violence and assault weapons. Of those polled, "63 percent support an assault weapons ban."

And almost 6 in 10 in the poll say they favor reducing the amount of ammunition that can be carried in a weapon's magazine. But only 5 percent believe that reducing a firearm magazine capacity would go the furthest in curbing the number of mass shootings that occur..

Other options, including lessoning restrictions on "conceal and carry," banning immigration from countries with large Muslim populations, and prohibiting all Muslims from entering the country received considerably less support.

Jenkins says pollsters observed some sizeable differences between people who say that they have a gun or a firearm and those who do not.

Just 17 percent of those polled said they personally owned firearms.

And Jenkins said among those gun owners, there is significantly less support for policies that place greater restrictions on gun owners' rights — including a ban on assault weapons and magazine capacity reductions.

There were also differences between men and women in the poll. Although both men and women embrace a number of the policy proposals, women are frequently much more likely to offer their support for restricting gun ownership.

For example, two-thirds of women support an assault weapons ban and magazine reductions, as compared with barely a majority of men.

And men favor laws allowing conceal-and-carry more than women by about a 2-1 ratio.

Joe Cutter is the afternoon news anchor on New Jersey 101.5.