These beliefs aren’t restricted to Democrats or independents — Republican gun owners hold these views as well. Forty percent of the respondents identified as Republicans, in addition to 35 percent who are Democrats and 17 percent who are independents. “This is not as partisan an issue as it’s perceived, and this is not as controversial an issue as it is perceived,” said Michael Siegel, a professor at the Tufts University School of Medicine who led the research. “The most important finding was that there is a wide enough area of common ground between gun owners and non-gun owners that we...