People listen to a prayer during a rally on Capitol Hill Sept. 19, 2013, in Washington, DC. Members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns held the rally to support enacting background check reforms to firearms sales laws. (Photo by Brednen Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images) MSNBC The vast majority of Americans remain in overwhelming support of universal background checks on all gun purchases even several months after Republicans stymied new gun control legislation in Congress. Nearly 90% of Americans support background checks, a number basically unchanged from polls taken in the aftermath of last year’s massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary school, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday. Support for background checks among voters in gun-owning households also remained high, with 88% in favor of the checks. More generally, 54% of those polled support stricter gun control laws.
