American Gun Ownership Highest In 18 Years

[jimmy olsen]

Obama's gonna take our guns!

PRINCETON, NJ -- Forty-seven percent of American adults currently  report that they have a gun in their home or elsewhere on their  property. This is up from 41% a year ago and is the highest Gallup has  recorded since 1993, albeit marginally above the 44% and 45% highs seen  during that period.

The new result comes from Gallup's Oct. 6-9 Crime poll, which also finds public support for personal gun rights at a high-water mark.  Given this, the latest increase in self-reported gun ownership could  reflect a change in Americans' comfort with publicly stating that they  have a gun as much as it reflects a real uptick in gun ownership.
Republicans (including independents who lean Republican) are more  likely than Democrats (including Democratic leaners) to say they have a  gun in their household: 55% to 40%. While sizable, this partisan gap is  narrower than that seen in recent years, as Democrats' self-reported gun  ownership spiked to 40% this year.

The percentage of women who report household gun ownership is also at a new high, now registering 43%.

Gun ownership is more common in the South (54%) and Midwest (51%)  than in the East (36%) or West (43%) -- a finding typical of Gallup's  trends in gun ownership by region.

One in Three Americans Personally Own a Gun
Since 2000, Gallup has asked respondents with guns in their  households a follow-up question to determine if the gun belongs to the  respondent or to someone else. On this basis, Gallup finds that 34% of  all Americans personally own a gun.
The gender gap in personal gun ownership is wider than that seen for  household ownership, as 46% of all adult men vs. 23% of all women say  they personally own a gun.
Middle-aged adults -- those 35 to 54 years of age -- and adults with  no college education are more likely than their counterparts to be gun  owners.

Bottom Line
A clear societal change took place regarding gun ownership in the  early 1990s, when the percentage of Americans saying there was a gun in  their home or on their property dropped from the low to mid-50s into the  low to mid-40s and remained at that level for the next 15 years.  Whether this reflected a true decline in gun ownership or a cultural  shift in Americans' willingness to say they had guns is unclear.  However, the new data suggest that attitudes may again be changing. At  47%, reported gun ownership is the highest it has been in nearly two  decades -- a finding that may be related to Americans' dampened support  for gun-control laws. However, to ensure that this year's increase  reflects a meaningful rebound in reported gun ownership, it will be  important to see whether the uptick continues in future polling.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/150353/Self-Reported-Gun-Ownership-Highest-1993.aspx

[Ed Anger]

I've got a murder boner

[Viking]

Is this due to democrats being worried about republicans taking 2nd amendment remedies when Obama gets re-elected?

[MadImmortalMan]

I am the 40%!

[dps]

Is this due to democrats being worried about republicans taking 2nd amendment remedies when Obama gets re-elected?

No, the jump is entirely due to Democratic politicians buying guns in order to prove that they're really loyal Americans, not some kind of commies.

Seriously, while Gallup is a pretty respectable polling organization, something is wrong with some of those numbers.  Look at the bottom line on the last graph--gun ownership by region--for the last 3 years.  No way did gun ownership in the East drop from 33% to 23% in just 1 year, then bounce back to 36% the next year.

[Siege]

So much violence.

[Caliga]

I'm thinking of going out and buying another gun later today.

[sbr]

There has never been a gun in any residence i have ever lived in in my 41 years.

[Caliga]

We had our Swiss friend over for dinner today (she made us raclette ) and she brought over a bunch of her guns.  I jammed the slide open on her Glock 26.   We finally managed to get it to release though.

She loaned them to us to try on the range, so I temporarily have a Glock 19, a Glock 26, and a Taurus Millennium PT 132.  Despite the Taurus being chambered for a weakass round (.32 ACP), I really like the feel of it.

[Ed Anger]

The Glock 26 is a nice conceal carry weapon.

[Valmy]

Does my Arquebus replica count as a gun?

[Ed Anger]

Does my Arquebus replica count as a gun?

Halt intruder! Stand still for 3 minutes!

[Caliga]

The Glock 26 is a nice conceal carry weapon.

Yeah, I'm sure that hers just needs to be lubricated.  I've handled Glocks before (maybe not a 26 though, but it's just a 19 with a shorter barrel, it looks like) and they're usually not nearly so stiff.  These guns haven't been fired in over three years.

[Ed Anger]

The Glock 26 is a nice conceal carry weapon.

Yeah, I'm sure that hers just needs to be lubricated.  I've handled Glocks before (maybe not a 26 though, but it's just a 19 with a shorter barrel, it looks like) and they're usually not nearly so stiff.  These guns haven't been fired in over three years.

Would you like to lubercate her? Nudge nudge, wink wink.

[Caliga]

Not bad looking, but not really my type.  She'd need implants, for one thing.