3/13/2015

Newest piece at Fox News: "Is gun ownership really down in America?"

660-Guns-AP2
My newest piece at Fox News starts this way:
Is gun ownership falling? The answer is yes, at least if you believe a new General Social Survey (GSS) by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC). Supposedly, since the late 1970s, the percentage of homes with a gun has fallen from approximately 50 percent to 32 percent.  "The number of Americans who live in a household with at least one gun is lower than it's ever been,” reported Emily Swanson of the Associated Press.
Time magazine also points to a PEW Research survey that has done a couple much more limited surveys that suggest a similar drop in gun ownership over time.
But those claims are likely overblown.
Surely, gun control advocates such as GSS director Tom Smith view this decline as a good thing.  In a 2003 book of mine, I quoted Smith as saying that the large drop in gun ownership would “make it easier for politicians to do the right thing on guns” and pass more restrictive regulations.
Other gun control advocates have mentioned to me that they hope that if people believe fewer people own guns, that may cause others to rethink their decision to own one themselves.  It is part of the reason they dramatically exaggerate the risks of having guns in the home.
The Associated Press and Time ignored other polls by Gallup and ABC News/Washington Post.  These polls show that gun ownership rates have been flat over the same period.  According to Gallup, household gun ownership has ranged from 51 percent in 1994 to 34 percent in 1999. In 2014, it was at 42 percent – comparable to the 43-45 percent figures during the 1970s. . . . .
The rest of the piece is available here.

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1 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

This is obviosly wishful thinking on someone's part, considering the own I buying of arms and ammo the past few years, as demonstrated by increased NCIC checks and the reported numbers of new owners, especially women.

3/13/2015 7:22 PM  

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