The correct option is C More Americans believe the right to own a gun should be protected, despite perceived increase in gun crime.
This question presents respondents with two alternatives: When the issue of guns is raised, do you find yourself more on the side of protecting gun rights or controlling gun ownership? From the survey results we can conclude that
• More Americans today think their right to own a gun should be protected, as compared to those who vote for control in gun ownership
• Though the numbers show that gun crime is falling as compared to 1993, people believe otherwise.
Consider option A. The part of the sentence that says “Though gun crime is thought to be rising” is true.
But from the survey question, it cannot be said whether the majority of people are against stricter background checks on gun purchases. This is a specific issue of gun policy not addressed by the survey.
Option B is ruled out on 2 counts. Firstly it talks of proposals to restrict gun sales. We have no idea what these proposals may be and the reaction of the public to them is beyond the scope of this survey. Secondly, people not being in favor of something because gun related violence is falling does not make sense given the fact that people actually believe gun related violence is increasing.
Based on the second argument above, we can rule out option D as well. Fewer Americans today support control in gun ownership, but that cannot be linked to fall in gun crime.
Considering option C, we can see from the survey that a majority of Americans believe the right to own a gun should be protected. From the other information we have we know that as far as gun crime is concerned there is a perceived increase. So C is the correct answer.
Correct Answer: Choice (c)