A new poll shows that nearly half of Americans or someone in their household owns a gun, which would be a record number.
The survey, conducted by NBC News/Wall Street Journal, asked respondents if they or anyone in their household owned a gun. Forty-eight percent said yes, 50% said no, and an additional 2% were unsure.
Stephen Gutowski of The Washington Free Beacon noted that the 48% figure was 3% higher from the previous year, the highest ever recorded by an NBC News/Wall Street Journal.
The poll is likely understating the number of households with guns, as Gutowski highlighted the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) website stating that untold numbers of Americans choose to keep their gun ownership private and are reluctant to say they own a gun when they are polled.
Another way to measure gun ownership is through the number of recorded background checks. There was a record amount recorded in 2016 — a total of 27,538,673 purchased guns — although the number of gun sales seemed to be declining in 2017, but still remained at a record high
The NBC/Wall Street Journal poll also found that Americans are generally pro-Second Amendment, as evidenced by the fact that 50% of Americans were concerned about the government restricting gun ownership while 45% were concerned that the government wasn’t regulating guns enough.
Additionally, the poll ranked a series of statements of how people describe themselves, and being an NRA supporter was second at 18%.
When taken together, these numbers show that Americans favor the right to bear arms as enshrined by the Second Amendment and the amount of American households owning a gun is on the rise. Any future attempts from politicians to push for authoritarian confiscation of guns, directly or indirectly, will not go over well politically.
The NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey interviewed 1200 American adults from August 5-9 with a margin of error of nearly 3%. The full results of the poll can be seen here.