Agreement gun ownership in America is non every bit simple equally knowing who does and does non own a gun. Some Americans who don't personally own guns live with someone who does or may accept endemic a gun in the past. And many who don't currently own a gun, including those who have never endemic one, may be open to doing and then in the future.

3-in-ten American adults say they currently own a gun, and another xi% say they don't personally own a gun only live with someone who does. Among those who don't currently ain a gun, about half say they could see themselves owning 1 in the future.

Gun ownership is more mutual among men than women, and white men are specially 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. In that location are also significant differences across parties, with Republican and Republican-leaning independents more than than twice as likely equally Democrats and those who lean Democratic to say they own a gun (44% vs. twenty%).

For many adults who ain guns, exposure to guns happened at an early on age. Nigh ii-thirds of current gun owners (67%) say there were guns in their household growing up, and 76% study that they get-go fired a gun before they were 18. While not-gun owners are less likely to take grown upwardly in a gun-owning household, a substantial share (twoscore%) say this is the instance, and nearly six-in-ten (61%) say they have fired a gun.

Almost gun owners cite multiple reasons for owning a gun. In fact, eight-in-ten say they have more one reason for owning, and 44% have more than than one major reason. All the same, protection tops the list, with 67% of current gun owners saying this is a major reason they personally own a gun. About four-in-ten say the aforementioned nigh hunting (38%), while three-in-ten say sport shooting, including target, trap and skeet shooting is a major reason they ain a gun. Fewer cite a gun collection (13%) or their chore (8%) equally major reasons for owning a gun.

Two-thirds of gun owners say they own more than one gun, including 29% who own five or more guns. Almost 7-in-x say they own a handgun or pistol (72%), while 62% ain a burglarize and 54% own a shotgun. Among those who ain a unmarried gun, about (62%) say that gun is a handgun or pistol, while far fewer say they ain a rifle (22%) or a shotgun (xvi%).

Measuring gun ownership comes with its own gear up of challenges. For instance, unlike many demographic questions, there is not a definitive data source from the government or elsewhere on how many American adults own guns.

The new survey asked nigh gun ownership differently than previous Pew Inquiry Centre reports. It collected responses online, where people may be more willing to share sensitive data than they would be over the telephone or in person. Furthermore, the survey was conducted among adults who have responded to Pew Research Middle surveys in the past equally function of the American Trends Panel and thus may be more comfy answering the questions. Finally, it asked about gun buying using two separate questions to mensurate personal and household buying instead of collecting this information with a single question, as has been the case with previous Pew Inquiry Center reports.

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

Gun ownership is well-nigh common among men, whites

About 4-in-ten adults (42%) report that in that location is a gun in their household, with three-in-ten maxim they personally own a gun and eleven% saying they don't ain a gun but someone else in their household does.

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

White men are particularly probable to be gun owners: Near half (48%) say they own a gun, compared with about a quarter of white women and nonwhite men (24% each) and 16% of nonwhite women.

Similar the gender gap, the education gap in gun ownership is particularly pronounced among whites. Overall, about 3-in-ten adults with a high school diploma or less (31%) and 34% of those with some higher instruction say they ain a gun; a quarter of those with a available'due south caste or more say the same. Among whites, about four-in-10 of those with a high schoolhouse diploma or less (xl%) or with some higher (42%) are gun owners, compared with roughly a quarter of white college graduates (26%). There is no meaning difference in the rate of gun ownership across educational attainment among nonwhites.

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

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

Besides demographic differences, clear partisan divides sally when it comes to gun buying. Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are more than twice as likely every bit Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents to say they own a gun (44% vs. 20%). This partisan gap remains even afterwards controlling for demographic differences.

Among the eleven% of Americans who don't personally ain a gun but alive in a gun-owning household, relatively few (19%) say they ever utilise the gun or guns in their household.

Almost gun owners could never see themselves non owning a gun

Roughly three-quarters of Americans who currently own a gun (73%) say they tin't encounter themselves always not owning one, and this is the instance amongst majorities of gun owners across demographic groups.

Maybe not surprisingly, those who see owning a gun as cardinal to their overall identity are particularly committed to gun ownership. For example, 89% of gun owners who see owning a gun every bit very or somewhat important to their overall identity say they can't encounter themselves e'er not owning a gun, compared with 58% of those who say owning a gun is not too important or not at all of import their sense of identity.

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

Many not-gun owners are open up to owning a gun in the future

In addition to the iii-in-x adults who currently ain a gun, another 10% say they have owned one in the past; 58% say they have never owned a gun.

Many adults who don't currently own a gun say they could see themselves owning one at some point. In fact, 52% of all non-gun owners – and 71% of those who have endemic a gun in the by – say they could see themselves owning a gun in the future.

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

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

Most gun owners cite more than one reason for owning a gun, but protection tops the listing, with 67% of gun owners saying this is a major reason they personally own a gun. Almost 4-in-ten (38%) say hunting is a major reason they ain a gun, while three-in-ten cite sport shooting, including target, trap and skeet shooting. Fewer gun owners cite a gun collection (13%) or their task (eight%) every bit major reasons.

Men and women are nearly equally likely to say protection is a major reason they own a gun: 65% and 71%, respectively, say this is the example. But college shares of male person 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 ain a gun.

For the near part, gun owners in urban, suburban and rural areas offer like reasons for owning guns. For case, about seven-in-ten of those who live in urban or suburban areas say protection is a major reason they own a gun (71% each), equally practise nearly gun owners in rural parts of the country (62%). And across community types, about three-in-ten cite sport shooting every bit a major reason.

When it comes to hunting, nonetheless, rural gun owners are far more likely than their urban or suburban counterparts to say it is as an important reason they own 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 see their local community equally unsafe are not significantly more than likely than those who say they live in a condom community to say protection is cardinal to why they ain a gun. About 3-quarters of gun owners who say the community where they live is not also safe or not at all condom (74%) – and 66% of those who say they live in a community that is very or somewhat safe – cite protection equally a major reason they own gun. There is a meaning link, however, between owning a gun for protection and perceptions of whether the world, broadly speaking, has become more dangerous. While nearly seven-in-x gun owners who say the globe has get more dangerous cite protection as a major reason they own a gun (72%), half of those who don't see the earth that fashion say protection is central to why they ain a gun. Overall, 69% of all U.S. adults – and 75% of those who own a gun – say the world has become a more dangerous place.

About 2-thirds of gun owners own more than one gun

Most gun owners (66%) say they ain more than one gun, with about three-in-ten (29%) proverb they ain five or more guns. This is, perhaps, not surprising, because that eight-in-x gun owners cite more than one reason for owning a gun – including 44% who say there is more one major reason – and may demand dissimilar types of guns for different purposes. In fact, nigh gun owners who cite but 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 than one reason report having at least two guns.

Men are particularly likely to own multiple guns: Nearly three-quarters of male gun owners (74%) say they own two or more guns, compared with 53% of female person gun owners. This reflects, in role, the fact that men who ain guns are more likely than their female counterparts to have more than than i reason for doing so. Nonetheless, even later on decision-making for the number of reasons they own a gun, male gun owners remain more likely than their female person counterparts to own multiple guns.

Overall, about 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 than popular among men. Roughly seven-in-ten male person gun owners (69%) say they own a burglarize and 60% own a shotgun, compared with fifty% and 44% of women who own each blazon of gun, respectively.

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

Nigh gun owners say there were guns in their household growing up

Adults who depict the community where they grew up as rural are particularly likely to accept grown up with a gun in their household: 72% in this group say this is the case. Withal, a substantial share of those who grew up in a small boondocks (52%), a suburb (37%) or a city (39%) say guns were present in their home when they were growing up.

Regardless of the type of community they lived in growing upward, adults who grew up with guns in their households are far more probable than those who did not to be gun owners themselves. Near 4-in-10 who grew upward in a gun-owning household say they currently own a gun (42%), compared with 19% of those who didn't abound up with guns in their household. While this difference is most pronounced among those who grew up in rural areas – 48% of those who grew up with guns at present own a gun vs. 12% of those who didn't abound up with guns in their household – it is likewise evident among those who grew upwardly in small towns, suburbs or cities.

Amongst non-gun owners, about six-in-ten of those who grew up in a gun-owning household say they could run across themselves owning a gun at some signal (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 up vary considerably beyond customs type. For example, eight-in-ten adults who grew up in a gun-owning household in a rural expanse cite hunting as a reason there were guns in their household, while fewer cite protection (57%) or sport shooting (51%). In contrast, seven-in-10 of those who grew up in a gun-owning household in a urban center say in that location were guns in their household for protection; most one-half cite hunting (51%) or sport shooting (50%) as reasons there were guns in their household growing up.

Protection is cited far more often by adults younger than xxx than their older counterparts as a reason in that location were guns in their household growing upward. 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 30 to 49, 60% of those ages 50 to 64, and only 34% of those ages 65 and older.

By contrast, older Americans who grew up in a gun-owning household are far more probable than younger adults who grew up with guns to indicate to hunting every bit a reason guns were present in their household. About eight-in-ten of those ages 65 and older (84%) and 73% of those ages fifty to 64 cite hunting every bit a reason; a narrower bulk of adults ages xxx to 49 who grew up in a gun-owning household (60%) and about half of those younger than 30 (52%) cite hunting.

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

While men and women are as likely to say there were guns in their household growing up, men who grew upwardly in a gun-owning household are far more likely than their female person counterparts to say they went hunting or shooting when they were growing upwardly. Nearly half of men who grew up with guns in their homes say they went hunting frequently (27%) or sometimes (23%). Among women who grew upward in a gun-owning household, about one-in-5 (22%) say they went hunting at least sometimes when they were growing upwardly, while most say they hardly e'er (18%) or never (61%) did this.

Men who grew up in a gun-owning household are also more likely than women who grew upwardly with guns in their homes to say they went shooting or to a gun range growing up, though relatively few men or women say they did this often (13% and vii%, respectively). About 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 upwards, while about a quarter of women (27%) say the aforementioned.

Amongst adults who didn't grow upward in a gun-owning household, few say they went hunting or shooting when they were growing upward. But men who didn't grow upwards with guns are somewhat more likely than women who didn't grow upwardly with guns to say they participated in these activities at least sometimes. 1-in-ten men who didn't grow upwardly with guns in their household say they went hunting oft or sometimes, compared with 5% of women. And while xvi% of men in this grouping went shooting or to a gun range at to the lowest degree sometimes when they were growing upward, even smaller shares of women did so (6%).

When it comes to airsoft guns, such every bit 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 upwards. Just xx% of women say they used airsoft guns at least sometimes when they were growing up.

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

Amid all current and by gun owners, the boilerplate age at which Americans say they first became gun owners is 22 years. Well-nigh four-in-x current or by gun owners (37%) report that they were younger than 18 when they first got their own gun.

Electric current or past gun-owners who grew up with guns in their household report that they first became gun owners at an earlier age than those who didn't abound upward in a gun-owning household.

About half of those who grew up with guns (47%) say they were younger than 18 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 accept owned a gun and who grew up in a gun-owning household, 61% say they personally became gun owners before they turned 18; a quarter of women in the aforementioned group say they were younger than eighteen when they first got their own gun. On average, men who grew up in a gun-owning household report that they first got their ain gun when they were 17, compared with an average age of 26 for women who grew up with guns in their household.

Overall, men who currently ain guns or who have done so in the past study that they commencement became gun owners at historic period nineteen, on average; for women who own or previously owned guns, that age is 27.

Most Americans say they have fired a gun at some point

Nearly seven-in-ten adults (72%) say they have fired a gun at some point in their lives. While this is particularly the case among those who ain or have owned a gun (95%), virtually one-half of those who have never personally owned a gun say they have fired one (55%).

Large majorities of about nine-in-ten or more among electric current and past gun owners say they accept fired a gun, and this is truthful across demographic groups. Among those who have never owned a gun, however, at that place are some meaning demographic differences in the shares who say they have fired one. In many ways, these differences mirror the patterns in gun ownership.

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

Among adults who take never personally owned a gun, seven-in-x of those who grew upward with guns in their household say they accept fired a gun at some signal, compared with 47% of those who didn't grow upwards in a gun-owning household. Whether they have or accept not personally endemic a gun, the boilerplate age at which those who grew up with guns in the household say they first fired a gun is xiv years, compared with xx years among those who didn't grow upwards in a gun-owning household.

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

Most Americans say social club has a negative view of gun owners, just that people in their own communities look at gun owners is a positive way

A majority of Americans say that society tends to have a negative view of gun owners, a perception that is somewhat more than common among non-gun owners than among those who ain a gun. Near half-dozen-in-ten Americans who don't own a gun (61%) say gild has a negative view of gun owners, while 38% say social club'south views are generally positive. Opinions are more mixed among gun owners themselves: 54% say social club tends to have a negative view and 45% say it has a positive view of nigh gun owners.

Americans take a different cess of how people in their own communities view gun owners. Almost (61%) say people in their community generally view gun owners in a positive way, and this is especially the example among those who live in rural communities. Almost 8-in-ten adults who alive in a rural area (79%) say people in their community generally accept a positive view of gun owners; just 47% of those in urban areas say the same about people in their community.

Gun owners are far more than likely than non-gun owners to say people in their community wait at nearly gun owners in a positive manner; 78% of gun owners say this is the example, compared with 53% of non-gun owners. Assessments vary between gun owners and those who don't ain guns across community types, but differences are particularly pronounced amidst those who live in urban or suburban areas.

For example, while 66% of urban gun owners say people in their customs generally have a positive view of most gun owners, less than one-half of those who exercise not own guns in urban areas say this is the case (42%). In rural areas, gun owners are somewhat more than likely than those who don't ain 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).