{"id":95328,"date":"2023-08-21T13:45:30","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T18:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=95328"},"modified":"2023-08-21T13:45:30","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T18:45:30","slug":"95328","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=95328","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, that is<\/em><\/strong> part of it.<\/p>\n

For Most U.S. Gun Owners, Protection Is the Main Reason They Own a Gun<\/a>
\nNearly half of U.S. adults who do not currently own a gun say they could see themselves owning one in the future<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Gun owners in the United States continue to cite protection far more than other factors, including hunting and sport shooting, as a major reason they own a gun.<\/p>\n

And while a sizable majority of gun owners (71%) say they\u00a0enjoy<\/em>\u00a0having a gun, an even larger share (81%) say they\u00a0feel safer<\/em>\u00a0owning a gun.<\/p>\n

A Pew Research Center survey, conducted June 5-11 among 5,115 members of the Center\u2019s nationally representative American Trends Panel, finds:<\/p>\n

72% of U.S. gun owners say protection is a major reason they own a gun.<\/strong>\u00a0That far surpasses the shares of gun owners who cite other reasons.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This view has changed only modestly since the Center\u2019s major survey of\u00a0attitudes toward gun ownership and gun policies<\/a>\u00a0in 2017. At that time, 67% of gun owners cited protection as a major reason they owned a firearm.<\/p>\n

The demographics of gun ownership have changed little in recent years.<\/strong>\u00a0Gun ownership is far more common among residents of rural areas (47%) than among people living in suburbs (30%) or urban areas (20%). Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (45%) are far more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners (20%) to report owning a gun.<\/p>\n

\"Chart<\/a><\/figure>\n

Few gun owners worry about having a gun in their home.\u00a0<\/strong>Just 12% of gun owners say they worry about having guns in their home; 88% say they do not.<\/p>\n

Sizable majorities say owning a gun makes them feel safer and gives them a feeling of enjoyment.<\/p>\n

How non-gun owners feel about possibly owning a gun.\u00a0<\/strong>About half of Americans who don\u2019t own a gun say they could never see themselves owning one (52%) while nearly as many could imagine themselves as gun owners in the future (47%). These views are little changed from 2017.<\/p>\n

\"Chart<\/a><\/figure>\n

Men who do not own a gun are far more likely than women non-owners to say they could see themselves owning a gun in the future (56% vs. 40%).<\/p>\n

While a larger share of Republicans than Democrats say they own a gun, Republican non-owners also are more likely than Democratic non-owners to say they would consider owning a gun in the future (61% vs. 40%).<\/p>\n

A narrow majority of Black non-owners (56%) say they could see themselves owning a gun in the future, compared with smaller shares of White (48%), Hispanic (40%) and Asian non-owners (38%).<\/p>\n

Americans\u2019 views on whether it is too easy to legally obtain a gun<\/h3>\n
\"Chart<\/a><\/figure>\n

A majority of Americans (61%) say it is too easy to legally obtain a gun in this country, while 30% say the ease of legally obtaining a gun is about right; 9% say it is too hard.<\/p>\n

A Center report released in June<\/a>\u00a0found that 58% say gun laws should be stricter than they are today; 26% think they are about right, while 15% favor less strict gun laws.<\/p>\n

There are demographic and partisan differences in opinions about whether it is too easy to legally obtain a gun:<\/p>\n

Community type<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Majorities of U.S. adults living in urban (72%) and suburban (63%) say it is too easy to legally obtain a gun.<\/p>\n

Opinion among rural residents is more divided: 47% say it is too easy, 41% say it is about right and 11% say it is too hard.<\/p>\n

Gun owners and non-owners<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Non-owners are nearly twice as likely as gun owners to say it is too easy to legally obtain a gun (73% vs. 38%).<\/p>\n

Republicans and Democrats<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The partisan divide in opinions about the ease of legally obtaining guns in the U.S. is wider than the difference in views between gun owners and non-owners. An overwhelming share of Democrats (86%) say it is too easy to obtain a gun legally. About a third of Republicans (34%) say the same.<\/p>\n

Gun ownership in the United States<\/h3>\n
\"Chart<\/a><\/figure>\n

The shares of adults who say they personally own a gun \u2013 or that someone else in their household owns a gun \u2013 has changed little in recent years. Roughly a third (32%) say they own a gun; another 10% say that while they do not personally own a gun, someone else in their household does.<\/p>\n

Gender and race<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Four-in-ten men say they own a gun, compared with a quarter of women.<\/p>\n

And White adults are far more likely than Black, Hispanic or Asian adults to say they personally own a gun.<\/p>\n

Community type<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Reported gun ownership is much higher among adults living in rural areas (47%) than suburban (30%) or urban residents (20%).<\/p>\n

Republicans and Democrats<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Republicans, particularly conservative Republicans, are far more likely than Democrats to say they own a gun.<\/p>\n

About half of conservative Republicans (51%) say they own a gun. That compares with 38% of moderate and liberal Republicans, 24% of conservative and moderate Democrats, and 16% of liberal Democrats.<\/p>\n

Feelings about gun ownership<\/h3>\n
\"Chart<\/a><\/figure>\n

Gun owners express overwhelmingly positive sentiments about owning a gun, with sizable majorities saying it makes them feel safer and that they enjoy having a gun.<\/p>\n

However, people who do not own guns but live in households in which there is a gun present are far less likely to voice positive sentiments.<\/p>\n

While 81% of gun owners say owning a gun makes them feel safer, a smaller majority of non-owners in gun households (57%) say the same about the presence of a gun in the home.<\/p>\n

\"Chart<\/a><\/figure>\n

About three-in-ten non-owners in gun households (31%) enjoy having a gun in the house; that compares with 71% of gun owners who say they enjoy owning a gun.<\/p>\n

And a larger share of non-owners (27%) than owners (12%) worry about having a gun in the home.<\/p>\n

There also are partisan differences among gun owners in their opinions about owning a gun. Republican gun owners are more likely than Democratic gun owners to say owning a gun gives them feelings of safety and enjoyment, while Democratic gun owners are more likely to say they worry about having a gun in the home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, that is part of it. For Most U.S. Gun Owners, Protection Is the Main Reason They Own a Gun Nearly half of U.S. adults who do not currently own a gun say they could see themselves owning one in the future Gun owners in the United States continue to cite protection far more than … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,29,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rkba","category-safety","category-self-defense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95330,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95328\/revisions\/95330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}