A quarter of Americans now believe guns are the number one public health threat, according to new polling.
According to the Axios/Ipsos American Health Index, 26% of Americans believe access to guns is the top threat to public health. Around 25% believe opioids and fentanyl are the top concern.
Concern over access to firearms is growing. In February, only 17% of Americans cited gun access as a top concern, Ipsos reported.
Black Americans, Democrats and people in urban communities are most concerned about gun access. In the Axios/Ipsos survey, 49% of Black Americans, 50% of Democrats and 31% of people living in urban areas cited firearm access as their number one concern.
There have been several mass shootings this year, occurring in schools, shopping malls and hospitals.
In Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, communities are still coping with the aftermath of mass shootings last year.
Last May, a white gunman killed 10 people in Buffalo’s East Side, a predominantly Black neighborhood. The gunman was arrested.
Ten days later, 19 students and two teachers were killed at an elementary school in Uvalde. The gunman was killed by police.
The US is on track to set a record for annual mass killings, which the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit, defines as killings in which the death toll is four or more, not including the perpetrator. The total is expected to hit 60 this year, compared to 36 in 2022 and 28 in 2021.
Only 3% of Americans in the Axios/Ipsos survey listed Covid-19 as their top public health concern, down from 6% in February. Three out of five Americans believe the pandemic is over.
The World Health Organization announced this month that the pandemic is no longer a global health emergency.
