On the cusp of the anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., a CBS News poll reveals Americans overwhelmingly support a federal law requiring background checks on all potential gun buyers, a measure that has so far failed to be put into law.
Eighty-five percent of Americans favor such a law, including large majorities of Republicans (84 percent), Democrats (92 percent), independents (81 percent), and gun owners (84 percent).
As widespread as this support is, it is down slightly from January 2013, a month after the shooting. Then support for a federal law requiring universal background checks was at 92 percent.
