Monday’s Washington Navy Yard shooting sparked discussion of how to prevent even more tragedies from happening in the future. According at a new Gallup Poll conducted among 1,000 adults throughout the country this week, many Americans fault the mental health system, rather than gun control for the surge in violence. 

In the last two years, fewer Americans have come to attribute a “great deal” of the blame for mass shootings to easy access to guns. Compared to the 40 percent of people polled who blame issues with gun control, 48 percent blame flaws in the mental health system. 

A poll from January 2011 showed that 46 percent of Americans believed that easy access to guns was at fault for mass shootings, suggesting a shift towards greater acceptance of guns in the past two years. 

Yet, this shifting mentality is not shared by all Americans, as 57 percent of Democrats (compared to 22 percent of Republicans) continue to blame gun control as a major factor in the elevated number of mass shootings. 

With the Chicago park shooting adding even more victims to this week’s toll, action clearly needs to be taken to prevent future tragedies. Hopefully once Congress reaches a consensus about how to proceed with the future of nationalized healthcare, they will be able to focus their efforts on what actions need to be taken to keep our country safe. 

Contact Executive Producer Sara Newman here and follow her on Twitter.