42 Percent of American Households Are Gun-Owning

Forty-two percent of Americans live in a gun-owning household.[1]

Data from the Pew Research Center suggests a strong geographic divide. Among rural residents, 58 percent live in a household with a gun. That’s double the 29 percent rate in urban settings. In between are the suburbs at 41 percent.

Also, residents in the Northeast are far less likely to live in a gun-owning household than the rest of the country. In the Northeast, just 27 percent do so. In the Midwest, that total is 44 percent in the South, it’s 45 percent; and it’s 46 percent in the West.

Not surprisingly, since these geographic differences are similar to partisan differences, there is also a huge partisan divide on the issue. Fifty-seven percent of Republicans live in a gun-owning household as do 48 percent of Independents. Among Democrats, just 25 percent live in such a home.

Men (39 percent) are more likely than women (22 percent ) to personally own a gun. However, they are just about equally likely to live in a gun-owning household.

Most (52 percent) of those who do not own a gun could see themselves owning one in the future.

Regardless of whether or not they own a gun, 72 percent of Americans have fired a gun at some point in their life.

Footnotes:

Pew Research Center, "America’s Complex Relationship With Guns," June 22, 2017

Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology. Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.​

Scott Rasmussen is founder and president of the Rasmussen Media Group. He is the author of "Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System," "In Search of Self-Governance," and "The People’s Money: How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt." Read more reports from Scott Rasmussen — Click Here Now.