A stunning 75% of those polled agreed the city should ban handguns while only 18% disagreed with the idea (AFP pic).

TORONTO — City politicians aren’t shooting blanks when it comes to a Toronto handgun ban.

A Forum Research poll conducted this week and provided exclusively to QMI Agency shows strong support among Toronto residents for a city handgun ban.

A stunning 75% of those polled agreed the city should ban handguns while only 18% disagreed with the idea.

With 75% in favour of a handgun ban, “this is about as unanimous an opinion as you’re going to get in this city,” Forum Research president Lorne Bozinoff told QMI Agency Friday.

In the wake of a mall shooting earlier in June, in which two people died and several others were injured, city councillor Adam Vaughan floated the idea of renewing the push for a city handgun ban along with trying to implement a city-wide bullet ban.

Bozinoff said the support for the handgun ban isn’t surprising given Toronto residents have typically support the gun registry and other measures to crack down on guns.

Women were significantly more likely than men to back a ban on handguns. Support for a ban was highest in the downtown at 80%.

The telephone poll was conducted by interactive voice response among 1,212 Toronto residents on Monday and Thursday. It is considered accurate plus or minus 2.81 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.