A new national poll conducted last week by NBC News and released Wednesday has revealed a record high number of American voters acknowledge living in a household where firearms are present.
The survey was conducted Nov. 10-14 from among 1,000 registered voters, with an overall margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.
The poll was announced just as the anti-gun, Michael Bloomberg-backed Moms Demand Action group has gone to social media encouraging family fights at holiday dinner tables over gun control. Ammoland News just reported this campaign.
According to NBC News, 52 percent of survey respondents say they or someone living in the home owns a gun.
“That’s the highest share of voters who say they or someone in their household owns a gun in the history of the NBC News poll, on a question dating back to 1999,” the network reported.
The announcement brought a quick reaction from the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, which called it “one more affirmation of the importance of the Second Amendment.”
“Considering recent history with well-publicized declines in law enforcement ranks, violent crime making headlines on the nightly news and in the morning newspapers, it is no wonder Americans are falling back on the Second Amendment for personal and family safety,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Why should anyone, including NBC News, be surprised by this revelation? Owning a firearm in this country is a right protected by the Second Amendment and almost all state constitutions, even though far too many politicians treat it as a government-regulated privilege.”
NBC’s report went into detail about the rise in gun ownership. The network said 56 percent of White voters and 41 percent of Black voters say they or someone in the home owns a gun.
Breaking things down by political affiliation, 66 percent of Republican voters, 45 percent of Independents and even 41 percent of Democrats live in a “gun household.”
NBC spoke with Micah Roberts of Public Opinion Strategies, who observed, “In the last ten years, we’ve grown [10 points] in gun ownership. That’s a very stunning number.”
Back in March 2004, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey found 57 percent of Republicans, 41 percent of Independents and 33 percent of Democrats said they lived in a home where firearms were present.
One question about which opinions seem almost evenly split concerns government regulation. According to NBC, 48 percent of survey respondents expressed concerns the government will not do enough to regulate access to guns while 47 percent believe the government will go too far with restrictions.
“Gun ownership is rising across the national landscape,” CCRKBA’s Gottlieb observed, “and we are encouraged by what appears to be a cultural shift in America. More people, of all backgrounds, are taking personal responsibility for their safety and that of their families. We appear to be witnessing a significant change in how people look at gun ownership. We have all seen that the gun control and ban agenda has been an abject failure. Crime rates are up in many places. Restrictive gun laws have not disarmed criminals, only the law-abiding.
“The Citizens Committee encourages all new gun owners to seek competent training from qualified firearms instructors, and to follow all of the established safety rules,” Gottlieb said. “Responsible gun ownership is an American tradition. Despite efforts to regulate the Second Amendment to extinction, this new poll shows Americans are not about to give up their most valued freedom.”
