Understanding gun ownership in America is non as simple equally knowing who does and does not own a gun. Some Americans who don't personally own guns live with someone who does or may accept owned a gun in the past. And many who don't currently own a gun, including those who have never owned one, may be open to doing so in the hereafter.

Three-in-x American adults say they currently own a gun, and another eleven% say they don't personally own a gun but live with someone who does. Among those who don't currently own a gun, about half say they could meet themselves owning one in the future.

Gun ownership is more common among men than women, and white men are particularly likely to be gun owners. Among those who live in rural areas, 46% say they are gun owners, compared with 28% of those who live in the suburbs and 19% in urban areas. At that place are too significant differences beyond parties, with Republican and Republican-leaning independents more than twice as likely as Democrats and those who lean Democratic to say they own a gun (44% vs. 20%).

For many adults who own guns, exposure to guns happened at an early age. Virtually 2-thirds of current gun owners (67%) say there were guns in their household growing up, and 76% report that they get-go fired a gun before they were xviii. While non-gun owners are less probable to have grown upward in a gun-owning household, a substantial share (40%) say this is the example, and near six-in-x (61%) say they accept fired a gun.

Nigh gun owners cite multiple reasons for owning a gun. In fact, eight-in-ten say they accept more one reason for owning, and 44% have more than than one major reason. Nevertheless, protection tops the list, with 67% of current gun owners proverb this is a major reason they personally own a gun. About 4-in-ten say the same about hunting (38%), while 3-in-ten say sport shooting, including target, trap and skeet shooting is a major reason they own a gun. Fewer cite a gun collection (13%) or their job (8%) every bit major reasons for owning a gun.

Two-thirds of gun owners say they own more than ane gun, including 29% who own five or more than guns. About seven-in-ten say they own a handgun or pistol (72%), while 62% own a rifle and 54% own a shotgun. Amongst those who own a single gun, most (62%) say that gun is a handgun or pistol, while far fewer say they own a burglarize (22%) or a shotgun (sixteen%).

Measuring gun ownership comes with its own fix of challenges. For example, unlike many demographic questions, at that place is not a definitive information source from the government or elsewhere on how many American adults own guns.

The new survey asked well-nigh gun buying differently than previous Pew Research Eye reports. It collected responses online, where people may be more willing to share sensitive data than they would be over the phone or in person. Furthermore, the survey was conducted among adults who take responded to Pew Enquiry Center surveys in the past as part of the American Trends Panel and thus may be more than comfortable answering the questions. Finally, it asked about gun ownership using two separate questions to measure personal and household ownership instead of collecting this information with a single question, every bit has been the case with previous Pew Research Center reports.

Despite these changes, the share of U.S. adults in the new survey who report that they personally own a gun or who live with someone who does is similar to what the Center found in a survey conducted by telephone in August 2016. Both surveys are consistent with rates of gun ownership reported by the Gallup Organization, simply somewhat higher than that reported by the General Social Survey (GSS), which is conducted face to face up.

Gun ownership is about common among men, whites

About four-in-ten adults (42%) study that there is a gun in their household, with 3-in-ten saying they personally ain a gun and 11% saying they don't own a gun just someone else in their household does.

Gun ownership varies considerably across demographic groups. For instance, nigh iv-in-10 men (39%) say they personally own a gun, compared with 22% of women. And while 36% of whites report that they are gun owners, most a quarter of blacks (24%) and 15% of Hispanics say they own a gun.

White men are especially likely to be gun owners: About half (48%) say they ain a gun, compared with about a quarter of white women and nonwhite men (24% each) and 16% of nonwhite women.

Like the gender gap, the education gap in gun ownership is particularly pronounced amidst whites. Overall, virtually 3-in-ten adults with a high schoolhouse diploma or less (31%) and 34% of those with some higher education say they ain a gun; a quarter of those with a bachelor's degree or more say the same. Among whites, about iv-in-ten of those with a loftier school diploma or less (twoscore%) or with some college (42%) are gun owners, compared with roughly a quarter of white higher graduates (26%). At that place is no pregnant difference in the rate of gun ownership beyond educational attainment amidst nonwhites.

Regionally, Northeasterners stand out as the least likely to ain guns: xvi% of adults who live in the Northeast say they ain a gun, about half the share who say this in the Southward (36%), Midwest (32%) and West (31%).

Beyond all regions, gun ownership varies considerably between those who alive in rural and urban areas, with rural dwellers far more than likely than those who live in urban areas to say they own a gun. Overall, 46% of Americans who live in rural parts of the country ain a gun, compared with 28% of those who live in the suburbs and 19% of those in urban areas.

Besides demographic differences, clear partisan divides emerge when it comes to gun buying. Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are more than than twice as likely every bit Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents to say they own a gun (44% vs. xx%). This partisan gap remains even after controlling for demographic differences.

Amid the eleven% of Americans who don't personally own a gun but live in a gun-owning household, relatively few (xix%) say they ever utilise the gun or guns in their household.

Most gun owners could never encounter themselves non owning a gun

Roughly 3-quarters of Americans who currently own a gun (73%) say they can't see themselves ever not owning 1, and this is the example among majorities of gun owners beyond demographic groups.

Perhaps not surprisingly, those who see owning a gun as central to their overall identity are particularly committed to gun ownership. For example, 89% of gun owners who see owning a gun equally very or somewhat important to their overall identity say they can't see themselves always non owning a gun, compared with 58% of those who say owning a gun is not too of import or not at all of import their sense of identity.

And while 85% of gun owners who say the right to own guns is essential to their sense of liberty say they tin't see themselves ever not owning a gun at some bespeak, 41% of those who don't encounter the correct to own guns as essential say the aforementioned.

Many non-gun owners are open to owning a gun in the hereafter

In add-on to the three-in-ten adults who currently ain a gun, some other 10% say they have endemic one in the past; 58% say they accept never endemic a gun.

Many adults who don't currently own a gun say they could run into themselves owning 1 at some point. In fact, 52% of all not-gun owners – and 71% of those who have owned a gun in the past – say they could see themselves owning a gun in the future.

Consistent with patterns in gun ownership, a higher share of men than women who don't currently own guns say they could see themselves doing so at some indicate; 62% of men who don't own guns say this is the example, compared with 45% of women. And while 62% of not-gun owners who live in rural areas say they could run across themselves owning a gun at some betoken, smaller shares of those who live in a suburban (49%) or urban (l%) areas say the aforementioned.

Ii-thirds of gun owners cite protection as a major reason for owning a gun

Nigh gun owners cite more than i reason for owning a gun, simply protection tops the list, with 67% of gun owners saying this is a major reason they personally ain a gun. Well-nigh four-in-10 (38%) say hunting is a major reason they own a gun, while three-in-x cite sport shooting, including target, trap and skeet shooting. Fewer gun owners cite a gun collection (thirteen%) or their job (viii%) equally major reasons.

Men and women are about equally likely to say protection is a major reason they own a gun: 65% and 71%, respectively, say this is the case. Simply higher shares of male than female person gun owners say hunting (43% of men vs. 31% of women) and sport shooting (34% vs. 23%) are major reasons they personally own a gun.

For the most part, gun owners in urban, suburban and rural areas offering like reasons for owning guns. For example, about seven-in-ten of those who live in urban or suburban areas say protection is a major reason they ain a gun (71% each), as do most gun owners in rural parts of the state (62%). And across community types, about three-in-10 cite sport shooting as a major reason.

When it comes to hunting, however, rural gun owners are far more likely than their urban or suburban counterparts to say it is as an important reason they ain a gun; 48% of gun owners in rural areas say this, compared with 34% in the suburbs and 27% in urban parts of the country.

Interestingly, gun owners who meet their local community every bit unsafe are not significantly more likely than those who say they live in a safe community to say protection is central to why they ain a gun. About three-quarters of gun owners who say the community where they live is non too safe or not at all safe (74%) – and 66% of those who say they live in a community that is very or somewhat safe – cite protection every bit a major reason they own gun. There is a significant link, still, between owning a gun for protection and perceptions of whether the earth, broadly speaking, has become more than dangerous. While about seven-in-10 gun owners who say the world has get more dangerous cite protection as a major reason they own a gun (72%), one-half of those who don't see the world that way say protection is fundamental to why they own a gun. Overall, 69% of all U.S. adults – and 75% of those who own a gun – say the world has go a more unsafe place.

Nearly two-thirds of gun owners own more than 1 gun

Most gun owners (66%) say they own more than one gun, with most three-in-ten (29%) saying they own five or more guns. This is, perhaps, not surprising, considering that eight-in-ten gun owners cite more than ane reason for owning a gun – including 44% who say at that place is more ane major reason – and may need different types of guns for dissimilar purposes. In fact, near gun owners who cite simply one reason for owning a gun say they own a single gun (65%); in contrast, 74% of those who say they ain a gun for more than i reason report having at to the lowest degree two guns.

Men are particularly likely to own multiple guns: About three-quarters of male gun owners (74%) say they own ii or more guns, compared with 53% of female gun owners. This reflects, in office, the fact that men who ain guns are more probable than their female counterparts to have more i reason for doing and then. Still, even after controlling for the number of reasons they ain a gun, male gun owners remain more than likely than their female counterparts to own multiple guns.

Overall, nigh seven-in-ten gun owners say they own a handgun or pistol (72%), while 62% own a rifle and 54% ain a shotgun. While similar shares of male and female gun owners own a handgun (73% and 71%, respectively), rifles and shotgun are more popular among men. Roughly seven-in-ten male gun owners (69%) say they own a burglarize and 60% own a shotgun, compared with 50% and 44% of women who own each type of gun, respectively.

Amidst gun owners with only one gun, handguns are by far the most mutual type of gun: 62% say this is the type of gun they ain, while 22% own a rifle and 16% own a shotgun.

Near gun owners say there were guns in their household growing upwards

Adults who draw the community where they grew up as rural are particularly likely to have grown upwards with a gun in their household: 72% in this grouping say this is the case. Still, a substantial share of those who grew upward in a small town (52%), a suburb (37%) or a city (39%) say guns were present in their domicile when they were growing upward.

Regardless of the blazon of community they lived in growing up, adults who grew up with guns in their households are far more probable than those who did not to exist gun owners themselves. Virtually four-in-x who grew up in a gun-owning household say they currently own a gun (42%), compared with 19% of those who didn't grow up with guns in their household. While this difference is virtually pronounced amongst those who grew up in rural areas – 48% of those who grew up with guns now own a gun vs. 12% of those who didn't grow up with guns in their household – it is likewise evident amidst those who grew upward in small towns, suburbs or cities.

Amid not-gun owners, nigh six-in-ten of those who grew upwardly in a gun-owning household say they could see themselves owning a gun at some indicate (61%). Of those who didn't grow upwardly with guns in their household, smaller shares say the same (46%).

Reasons for having had guns in the household growing upwardly vary considerably across customs type. For example, eight-in-ten adults who grew up in a gun-owning household in a rural area cite hunting as a reason in that location were guns in their household, while fewer cite protection (57%) or sport shooting (51%). In contrast, vii-in-ten of those who grew upward in a gun-owning household in a city say there were guns in their household for protection; virtually one-half cite hunting (51%) or sport shooting (50%) as reasons in that location were guns in their household growing up.

Protection is cited far more oftentimes by adults younger than 30 than their older counterparts as a reason there were guns in their household growing up. About eight-in-ten young adults who grew up in a gun-owning household (79%) say this was a reason, compared with 66% of those ages thirty to 49, lx% of those ages 50 to 64, and merely 34% of those ages 65 and older.

Past contrast, older Americans who grew upwardly in a gun-owning household are far more than likely than younger adults who grew up with guns to bespeak to hunting as a reason guns were present in their household. Near eight-in-x of those ages 65 and older (84%) and 73% of those ages 50 to 64 cite hunting as a reason; a narrower majority of adults ages 30 to 49 who grew up in a gun-owning household (threescore%) and nigh half of those younger than xxx (52%) cite hunting.

Higher shares of men than women who grew up with guns in the household say they participated in certain gun-related activities

While men and women are equally likely to say in that location were guns in their household growing up, men who grew up in a gun-owning household are far more likely than their female counterparts to say they went hunting or shooting when they were growing upwards. Most half of men who grew up with guns in their homes say they went hunting often (27%) or sometimes (23%). Among women who grew upward in a gun-owning household, about 1-in-five (22%) say they went hunting at least sometimes when they were growing upward, while nigh say they hardly ever (18%) or never (61%) did this.

Men who grew upwards in a gun-owning household are besides more probable than women who grew up with guns in their homes to say they went shooting or to a gun range growing upward, though relatively few men or women say they did this oft (13% and seven%, respectively). Nigh four-in-ten men who grew up in a gun-owning household (44%) say they went shooting or to a gun range at least sometimes when they were growing up, while about a quarter of women (27%) say the same.

Amid adults who didn't grow upwardly in a gun-owning household, few say they went hunting or shooting when they were growing up. Simply men who didn't grow up with guns are somewhat more likely than women who didn't abound up with guns to say they participated in these activities at least sometimes. Ane-in-ten men who didn't abound upwards with guns in their household say they went hunting oft or sometimes, compared with 5% of women. And while 16% of men in this group went shooting or to a gun range at least sometimes when they were growing up, even smaller shares of women did so (6%).

When it comes to airsoft guns, such as paintball, BB or pellet guns, 57% of men – including 72% of those who grew up with guns in their household and 42% of those who didn't – say they used them often or sometimes when they were growing up. But 20% of women say they used airsoft guns at least sometimes when they were growing up.

Gun ownership tends to happen at an earlier age for those who grew up with guns in their household

Among all current and past gun owners, the average historic period at which Americans say they offset became gun owners is 22 years. Nearly four-in-10 electric current or by gun owners (37%) report that they were younger than 18 when they first got their own gun.

Current or by gun-owners who grew up with guns in their household written report that they first became gun owners at an earlier historic period than those who didn't grow upwardly in a gun-owning household.

Near half of those who grew up with guns (47%) say they were younger than xviii when they first got their own gun, compared with 19% of those who didn't grow up with guns in their household.

Among men who own or have owned a gun and who grew up in a gun-owning household, 61% say they personally became gun owners earlier they turned 18; a quarter of women in the same grouping say they were younger than 18 when they commencement got their own gun. On average, men who grew up in a gun-owning household study that they first got their own gun when they were 17, compared with an boilerplate age of 26 for women who grew upwards with guns in their household.

Overall, men who currently own guns or who take done and then in the past report that they start became gun owners at age 19, on average; for women who ain or previously owned guns, that age is 27.

Most Americans say they take fired a gun at some point

Virtually vii-in-ten adults (72%) say they have fired a gun at some indicate in their lives. While this is specially the case among those who ain or take owned a gun (95%), nigh half of those who have never personally owned a gun say they take fired one (55%).

Big majorities of well-nigh nine-in-ten or more among electric current and past gun owners say they have fired a gun, and this is true across demographic groups. Amongst those who have never owned a gun, however, there are some meaning demographic differences in the shares who say they take fired i. In many ways, these differences mirror the patterns in gun ownership.

For example, men who have never owned a gun are more than likely than their female counterparts to say they have fired one (64% vs. l%). Most two-thirds (68%) of whites who have never owned a gun say they accept fired one at some point, compared with 32% of blacks and 35% of Hispanics who have never owned a gun. And while 68% of those who live in rural areas who take never owned a gun say they accept fired one, near half of those who live in urban (48%) or suburban (56%) areas take had this experience.

Amongst adults who accept never personally owned a gun, seven-in-10 of those who grew up with guns in their household say they have fired a gun at some point, compared with 47% of those who didn't grow up in a gun-owning household. Whether they have or take not personally owned a gun, the average age at which those who grew upwards with guns in the household say they first fired a gun is 14 years, compared with 20 years among those who didn't grow upwards in a gun-owning household.

Men who grew upward in a gun-owning household report that they first fired a gun when they were, on boilerplate, 12 years old. Among women who grew up with guns in their household, the boilerplate age at which they first fired a gun is 17.

Most Americans say gild has a negative view of gun owners, but that people in their own communities look at gun owners is a positive style

A bulk of Americans say that society tends to have a negative view of gun owners, a perception that is somewhat more than common among not-gun owners than among those who own a gun. Virtually half-dozen-in-ten Americans who don't own a gun (61%) say society has a negative view of gun owners, while 38% say club's views are generally positive. Opinions are more mixed among gun owners themselves: 54% say society tends to have a negative view and 45% say information technology has a positive view of well-nigh gun owners.

Americans have a dissimilar assessment of how people in their ain communities view gun owners. Most (61%) say people in their customs generally view gun owners in a positive way, and this is particularly the instance amongst those who alive in rural communities. Most eight-in-10 adults who live in a rural area (79%) say people in their community generally take a positive view of gun owners; merely 47% of those in urban areas say the same virtually people in their community.

Gun owners are far more than likely than non-gun owners to say people in their customs await at most gun owners in a positive fashion; 78% of gun owners say this is the instance, compared with 53% of non-gun owners. Assessments vary betwixt gun owners and those who don't ain guns across customs types, only differences are particularly pronounced amid those who live in urban or suburban areas.

For case, while 66% of urban gun owners say people in their customs generally have a positive view of most gun owners, less than half of those who practise not own guns in urban areas say this is the case (42%). In rural areas, gun owners are somewhat more than probable than those who don't own guns to say people in their community look at gun owners in a positive way, but majorities of both groups offer this assessment (85% and 74%, respectively).