Most gun owners in the U.S. say they own a gun for protection, according to a Pew Research Center report released on August 16.
More than any other reason, protection (72%) was cited as the main reason they own a gun. While many gun owners (71%) say they “enjoy having a gun,” more Americans (81%) say that owning a gun makes them feel safer.
The other reasons given for owning a gun were for hunting, for sport shooting, as part of a gun collection and for their job.
Nearly a third (32%) of those surveyed say they personally own a gun. According to the report, “four-in-ten men say they own a gun, compared with a quarter of women.”
The report also found that the respondents felt differently about guns based on whether they owned a gun or did not own a gun but were in a gun-owning household. When asked if they felt safer owning a gun or having a gun in the home, 81% agreed compared to 57% of non-gun owners.
Non-gun owners are divided on whether they would purchase a gun in the future, with 57% saying “I could never see myself owning a gun” and 47% saying “I could see myself owning a gun in the future.”
This perspective is a slight change from Pew’s 2017 survey that measured attitudes toward gun ownership and related policies. That year, 67% of gun owners said they owned a firearm for protection.
The full report is available here.
Director of The Raceless Gospel Initiative, an associate editor, host of the Good Faith Media podcast, “The Raceless Gospel” and author of Take Me to the Water: The Raceless Gospel as Baptismal Pedagogy for a Desegregated Church.
