Popular Bigotry

Americans owning guns area large group but remain a minority. We are arguably the only group that remains socially acceptable to hate or defame. Even groups and individuals professing to be moderate and in favor of "common sense" policy have openly stated that "there is no such thing as a responsible gun owner" and that mere possession of the "wrong" type of firearm is deviant behavior. Gun owners are portrayed as angry, fearful, rural, unsophisticated white men.

Gun owners are mentally ill religious bigots with "blood on their hands" that don’t care about children being shot. Those slanders go unquestioned by many. Consider: what other minority group would it go unchallenged to claim that everyone in that group is inherently irresponsible? Despite the rhetoric, the numbers are on our side. Pew Research has conducted polls over the years and has compiled the results in its annual Gun Report.

According to Pew Research, slightly more than 60 percent of Americans say they view gun ownership favorably, and 72 percent of adults have fired a gun. Among women, 22 percent own a gun, 36 percent of gun owners are women, and 40 percent of women live in a gun-owning household. Two thirds of gun owners own more than one gun. Among Americans that don’t currently own firearms, 52 percent of them said they are open to owning a gun in the future and 72 percent think that most people should be able to own a gun.

Most gun owners have taken a safety course. Seven-in-ten gun owners say they have taken a gun safety course such as weapons training, hunter safety, or firearm safety. This is particularly the case among those who consider it essential for gun owners to take such courses—83% of gun owners with no children in the house who say it is essential to take a course also say they have done so.

The more firearms owned, the more likely they will do so as gun owners with multiple firearms are more likely than those who own only one gun to report taking a gun safety course; about three-quarters of those who own two or more guns (77%) say they have done so. Most gun owners report that gun violence as not a problem in their local communities: 68% state that violence is either a small or non-existent problem in their community.

Americans also realize gun violence problems are due to criminals willing to break the law, especially gun control laws, with over half (53%) saying this contributes "a great deal" to gun violence and roughly a third (32%) saying it contributes "a fair amount." Most people, gun owners and non-owners alike, say there is little link between access to guns and likelihood of committing crime with 75% saying that people who want to kill or harm others would find away to do so whether or not they had access to a gun, and 73% saying same when it comes to people who want to harm themselves.

The good news here is that many Americans can see past the nonsense. That’s the real strength of the so-called "gun lobby." John M. Buol Jr. AmericanGunsmith.info