More Than Half of American Voting Households Own a Gun

For the first time, gun owning households outnumber non-gun owning households. A report released by NBC yesterday shows that 52% of American voters say someone in their household owns a gun.

It’s the highest number ever recorded since NBC started asking the question in polls way back in 1999, and shows some interesting demographic changes in who is choosing to arm themselves in the US.

Data courtesy of NBC.

Context

One piece of data that the poll showed was how quickly gun ownership has spiked in recent years. Just 10 years ago, in 2013, only 42% of American voting households owned a gun. That number had only increased to 46% by 2019, meaning the gun-buying heyday that kicked off in 2020 has brought a full 6% of households into the fold of gun ownership.

Gun ownership is (as always) split along party lines. The poll showed that 66% of self-identifying Republicans owned a gun, up from 64% in 2019. That’s not really a huge increase. But what is significant is the number of new Democrat gun owners. According to the poll, only 33% of Democrat households owned a gun in 2019. Now, just over 4 years later, that number has spiked to 41%.

The number of Black gun owners has ballooned, too. According to the survey, 41% of Black voters own a gun, a 17% increase since 2019. That’s the biggest demographic increase the poll reported.

Final Thoughts

One of the most fascinating parts of this poll data to me is the decrease in gun ownership among independents. Part of me wonders if this has to do with the Republican party attracting independents who are single-issue voters on gun control.

Oh, there’s one last thing I should mention before signing off. The actual number of gun-owning households is probably much higher than the poll reported. According to research conducted by the NRA earlier this year, at least 18% of people who respond to gun-related surveys lie about not owning guns. Just some food for thought.