Washington, D.C. ? The nation is profoundly split along gender, racial and other lines over gun violence and what the government should do to control it, despite near-universal sorrow over the Virginia Tech shootings, an AP-Ipsos poll has found.

Women and minorities are far likelier than men and whites to view gun violence as a major problem, to worry about being shot and to want stricter firearms laws, said the survey, which was taken after the killings.

Though Monday’s horrific killings were fresh in people’s minds, there was scant movement in their attitude toward gun laws. Forty-seven percent said firearm controls should be tightened, 38 percent said they should remain unchanged and 11 percent said they should be loosened – about the same as in a January survey.

Six in 10 women think gun laws should be toughened, nearly double the proportion for men. Fifty-five percent of minorities favor stricter legal requirements, compared with 44 percent of whites.