47% of Americans have guns in their households (somewhere on their property). The percentage was highest in 1993 at 54%, but it's been running pretty steadily between 40-44% in the years in between. One might be tempted to think that the current percentage of 47% is all Republicans, but it's not. There is a gap between liberals and conservatives, but it's not as wide as you might think. Democrats with guns are voting for somebody.
Gun ownership is more common in the South (54%) and Midwest (51%) than in the East (36%) or West (43%).
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 versus thr 30-32% of Democrats in the same period since 1993. Generally, the gap between conservatives and liberals has been about 20%, but the gap is narrowing to 15% in last year's survey. It's be interesting to see what the numbers look like when they do the annual survey again this October.
One of the more interesting findings of the survey is education. College graduates and those with some college personally own guns at a percentage of 29 and 30, respectively, while those with no college education at all personally own guns at a 40% clip. I'll leave the conclusions up to someone else.
Source:
Self-Reported Gun Ownership
