Over half of American voters — 52% — live in a household where someone owns a gun. That is the highest percentage ever.
In 2019, 46% of Americans said that they or someone in their household owned a gun. In 2013, only 42% of households had a gun.
The latest results were revealed in an NBC News poll. “In the last ten years, we’ve grown [10 points] in gun ownership. That’s a very stunning number,” said Micah Roberts of Public Opinion Strategies, a Republican polling firm that took the survey along with the Democratic polling firm Hart Research.
“By and large, things don’t change that dramatically that quickly when it comes to something as fundamental as whether you own a gun,” Roberts said.
Gun ownership rates differ based on respondents’ political party, reports NBC:
This month, 66% of Republican voters surveyed say that they or someone in their household owns a gun, while just 45% of independents and 41% of Democrats say the same.
In 2004, a March NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that 57% of Republicans said that they or someone in their household owned a gun, while just 41% of independents and 33% of Democrats said the same.
White voters tend to own guns at higher rates than Black or Latino voters, but gun ownership rates among Black voters have jumped in recent years.
In August 2019, 53% of white voters said that they or someone in their household owned a gun, and 24% of Black voters said the same.
This month, 56% of white voters report that they or someone in their household owns a gun and 41% of Black voters say the same, – a 17-point increase among that group in just four years.
