Photo by Craig

Amid an ongoing fight in federal courts over D.C.’s limitations on gun ownership and an increase in violent crime, a Washington Post poll found that just over half of Washingtonians, 51 percent, said they would prefer a gun ownership ban be reinstated, while 47 percent believe otherwise.

Last year, a federal judge ruled D.C.’s complete ban on carrying registered handguns in public was unconstitutional. After initially fighting the ruling, the D.C. Council passed a highly restrictive concealed carry law—which gun rights advocates immediately protested. In May, a federal judge ruled that a key provision of the new law—in which a District resident must prove to police that they have “good reason to fear injury to his or her person” or “any other proper reason for carrying a pistol”—violates Second Amendment rights. A federal appeals court is due to hear the case tomorrow, according to the Post.

In the court of public opinion, though, there remains support for restrictive gun laws.

At 62 percent, white residents are most in favor of a total gun ownership ban as well as 61 percent of residents who make at least $100,000 a year, according to the Post.

Individuals with a high school diploma or less, and make below $50,000, are most likely to oppose a ban—only 4 in 10 are in favor. African Americans were among those least in favor of returning to a ban on gun ownership.

Amid a significantly higher homicide rate than last year, the Washington Post poll also found that Washingtonians cited crime as the city’s biggest problem for the first time in more than a decade.

At this point last year, there were 92 homicides; this year the city is at 146—an increase of 58.7 percent.