Two out of three Canadians say they would support or somewhat support a total ban on handgun ownership, according to a new CTV Nanos poll released Sunday night.
The poll finds 48 per cent of Canadians are completely in favour of a ban, save for police and other security professionals continuing to carry them. A total of 19 per cent said they somewhat support the measure, while just over one in five said they are completely opposed to a ban.
The numbers were released in the midst of an extremely violent weekend in Toronto that has seen multiple homicides, the most recent being a man shot in broad daylight at Coronation Park around the dinner hour on Sunday.
Interestingly, women who were surveyed felt the strongest about restricting guns, with nearly 75 per cent of female respondents supporting or somewhat supporting a total ban. For men, that number was reduced to 59 per cent.
Also in the findings: more than 70 per cent of Canadians either completely or somewhat support spending more money on policing - specifically, to combat gun crime. Just over one in 10 said they were opposed to this.
However, the recent events in Toronto haven't appeared to make us any more scared to venture out into crowds. Four out of five people surveyed said they're not any more scared to go to a crowded public area. Just under 15 per cent said they have been impacted by it, and are less likely to go out into a crowd.
Finally, the survey finds that just under half of us (49 per cent) think money spent on a combination of policing, mental health advocacy and education would be more effective in reducing gun crime.
The survey was conducted among 1,000 randomly chosen Canadians between August 25 and 27. It was commissioned by CTV News while the research was conducted by Nanos Research.