Agreement gun ownership in America is not as simple as knowing who does and does not own a gun. Some Americans who don't personally ain guns alive with someone who does or may have owned a gun in the by. And many who don't currently own a gun, including those who have never owned ane, may exist open up to doing then in the future.

Three-in-ten American adults say they currently ain a gun, and another 11% say they don't personally ain a gun but live with someone who does. Among those who don't currently ain a gun, about half say they could run across 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. There are also pregnant differences beyond parties, with Republican and Republican-leaning independents more twice as likely as Democrats and those who lean Democratic to say they ain a gun (44% vs. 20%).

For many adults who own guns, exposure to guns happened at an early age. Nigh ii-thirds of current gun owners (67%) say at that place were guns in their household growing up, and 76% report that they outset fired a gun before they were 18. While non-gun owners are less likely to have grown up in a gun-owning household, a substantial share (40%) say this is the case, and about six-in-10 (61%) say they take fired a gun.

Most gun owners cite multiple reasons for owning a gun. In fact, eight-in-10 say they have more than one reason for owning, and 44% have more than than 1 major reason. All the same, protection tops the listing, 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 task (8%) equally major reasons for owning a gun.

Ii-thirds of gun owners say they own more than one gun, including 29% who own v or more than guns. Almost seven-in-x say they ain a handgun or pistol (72%), while 62% own a rifle and 54% ain a shotgun. Among those who own a single gun, most (62%) say that gun is a handgun or pistol, while far fewer say they ain a rifle (22%) or a shotgun (16%).

Measuring gun ownership comes with its own set of challenges. For instance, different many demographic questions, at that place is not a definitive data source from the government or elsewhere on how many American adults ain guns.

The new survey asked about gun ownership differently than previous Pew Research Center reports. Information technology collected responses online, where people may be more than willing to share sensitive information than they would exist over the phone or in person. Furthermore, the survey was conducted amid adults who have responded to Pew Research Center surveys in the past equally part of the American Trends Panel and thus may be more comfortable answering the questions. Finally, it asked about gun ownership using ii separate questions to mensurate personal and household ownership instead of collecting this information with a single question, as has been the example with previous Pew Inquiry Eye reports.

Despite these changes, the share of U.S. adults in the new survey who written report that they personally own a gun or who alive with someone who does is similar to what the Eye found in a survey conducted by telephone in August 2016. Both surveys are consequent with rates of gun ownership reported by the Gallup Organization, but somewhat college than that reported by the Full general Social Survey (GSS), which is conducted face to face up.

Gun ownership is well-nigh common amidst men, whites

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

Gun buying varies considerably beyond demographic groups. For case, about four-in-x men (39%) say they personally own 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 xv% of Hispanics say they own a gun.

White men are especially probable to exist gun owners: About 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.

Like the gender gap, the education gap in gun ownership is specially pronounced amongst whites. Overall, about three-in-x adults with a high schoolhouse diploma or less (31%) and 34% of those with some college education say they own a gun; a quarter of those with a available's caste or more say the same. Among whites, about four-in-ten of those with a loftier school diploma or less (xl%) or with some college (42%) are gun owners, compared with roughly a quarter of white college graduates (26%). There is no significant difference in the charge per unit of gun ownership across educational attainment among nonwhites.

Regionally, Northeasterners stand out as the least likely to ain guns: 16% of adults who live in the Northeast say they own a gun, nearly half the share who say this in the S (36%), Midwest (32%) and West (31%).

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

Besides demographic differences, clear partisan divides emerge when information technology comes to gun ownership. Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are more twice every bit likely equally Democrats and Autonomous-leaning independents to say they own a gun (44% vs. 20%). This partisan gap remains even after controlling for demographic differences.

Among the 11% of Americans who don't personally own a gun but alive in a gun-owning household, relatively few (xix%) say they ever use the gun or guns in their household.

Most gun owners could never see themselves not owning a gun

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

Perhaps not surprisingly, those who come across owning a gun as central to their overall identity are especially committed to gun buying. For instance, 89% of gun owners who meet owning a gun every bit very or somewhat important to their overall identity say they can't run into themselves ever not owning a gun, compared with 58% of those who say owning a gun is not too important or not at all important 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 run into themselves always not owning a gun at some indicate, 41% of those who don't see the right to own guns as essential say the aforementioned.

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

In add-on to the three-in-10 adults who currently own a gun, another 10% say they have owned ane in the by; 58% say they accept 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 not-gun owners – and 71% of those who take owned a gun in the past – say they could see themselves owning a gun in the time to come.

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

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

Nearly gun owners cite more than one reason for owning a gun, just protection tops the list, with 67% of gun owners saying this is a major reason they personally own a gun. About iv-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 (xiii%) or their chore (8%) as major reasons.

Men and women are about equally probable to say protection is a major reason they own a gun: 65% and 71%, respectively, say this is the case. Merely higher shares of male than female 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 instance, about seven-in-10 of those who alive in urban or suburban areas say protection is a major reason they own a gun (71% each), as do most gun owners in rural parts of the country (62%). And across community types, about 3-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 information technology is as an of import 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 run across their local customs equally unsafe are not significantly more likely than those who say they alive in a prophylactic community to say protection is primal to why they own a gun. About iii-quarters of gun owners who say the customs where they alive is not likewise safe or not at all condom (74%) – and 66% of those who say they alive in a community that is very or somewhat condom – cite protection equally a major reason they ain gun. In that location is a significant link, however, between owning a gun for protection and perceptions of whether the world, broadly speaking, has become more dangerous. While most vii-in-ten gun owners who say the world has become more than dangerous cite protection as a major reason they ain a gun (72%), one-half of those who don't run into the earth that way say protection is primal to why they own a gun. Overall, 69% of all U.S. adults – and 75% of those who own a gun – say the globe has become a more unsafe place.

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

Most gun owners (66%) say they own more ane gun, with nearly 3-in-ten (29%) saying they own 5 or more guns. This is, peradventure, not surprising, considering that eight-in-10 gun owners cite more than one reason for owning a gun – including 44% who say there is more 1 major reason – and may need unlike types of guns for different purposes. In fact, most gun owners who cite merely 1 reason for owning a gun say they own a single gun (65%); in dissimilarity, 74% of those who say they own a gun for more one reason study having at least 2 guns.

Men are particularly likely to own multiple guns: Nearly three-quarters of male gun owners (74%) say they own ii or more than guns, compared with 53% of female gun owners. This reflects, in part, the fact that men who own guns are more likely than their female counterparts to have more than 1 reason for doing so. Still, even after controlling for the number of reasons they own a gun, male gun owners remain more likely than their female 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% own 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 vii-in-ten male person gun owners (69%) say they own a rifle and 60% ain a shotgun, compared with 50% and 44% of women who ain each type of gun, respectively.

Among gun owners with but one gun, handguns are past far the most common blazon of gun: 62% say this is the blazon of gun they ain, while 22% own a rifle and 16% own a shotgun.

Nigh gun owners say in that location were guns in their household growing up

Adults who draw the customs where they grew upward equally rural are particularly likely to have grown upwards with a gun in their household: 72% in this grouping say this is the instance. Even so, 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 home when they were growing up.

Regardless of the blazon of community they lived in growing up, adults who grew up with guns in their households are far more likely than those who did not to exist gun owners themselves. About iv-in-ten who grew up in a gun-owning household say they currently own a gun (42%), compared with nineteen% of those who didn't grow upwardly with guns in their household. While this difference is nearly pronounced amid those who grew upward in rural areas – 48% of those who grew up with guns now ain a gun vs. 12% of those who didn't grow up with guns in their household – it is also evident among those who grew upwardly in small towns, suburbs or cities.

Among non-gun owners, about six-in-10 of those who grew up in a gun-owning household say they could see themselves owning a gun at some indicate (61%). Of those who didn't abound up with guns in their household, smaller shares say the same (46%).

Reasons for having had guns in the household growing upward vary considerably across community blazon. For case, eight-in-10 adults who grew upwards 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 dissimilarity, seven-in-ten of those who grew upwardly in a gun-owning household in a city say there were guns in their household for protection; virtually half cite hunting (51%) or sport shooting (50%) every bit reasons in that location were guns in their household growing up.

Protection is cited far more often past adults younger than 30 than their older counterparts as a reason at that place were guns in their household growing up. About viii-in-ten immature adults who grew upwards in a gun-owning household (79%) say this was a reason, compared with 66% of those ages thirty to 49, threescore% of those ages 50 to 64, and just 34% of those ages 65 and older.

By contrast, older Americans who grew up in a gun-owning household are far more than likely than younger adults who grew up with guns to point to hunting every bit a reason guns were present in their household. Most eight-in-ten 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 xxx to 49 who grew up in a gun-owning household (60%) and almost one-half of those younger than thirty (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 there 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. Nigh one-half of men who grew up with guns in their homes say they went hunting often (27%) or sometimes (23%). Among women who grew upwardly in a gun-owning household, about one-in-5 (22%) say they went hunting at least sometimes when they were growing up, while about say they hardly ever (18%) or never (61%) did this.

Men who grew up in a gun-owning household are also more likely than women who grew up 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 ofttimes (13% and 7%, respectively). About four-in-10 men who grew up in a gun-owning household (44%) say they went shooting or to a gun range at to the lowest degree sometimes when they were growing up, while virtually a quarter of women (27%) say the same.

Among adults who didn't grow up in a gun-owning household, few say they went hunting or shooting when they were growing upward. But men who didn't abound up with guns are somewhat more than likely than women who didn't grow up with guns to say they participated in these activities at least sometimes. One-in-x men who didn't grow up with guns in their household say they went hunting often or sometimes, compared with five% 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, fifty-fifty smaller shares of women did so (six%).

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. Just twenty% of women say they used airsoft guns at least sometimes when they were growing up.

Gun ownership tends to happen at an before historic period for those who grew up with guns in their household

Amongst all current and past gun owners, the boilerplate age at which Americans say they first became gun owners is 22 years. Nearly four-in-ten electric current or past gun owners (37%) written 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 study that they start became gun owners at an earlier age than those who didn't grow up in a gun-owning household.

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

Amongst men who own or have owned a gun and who grew up in a gun-owning household, 61% say they personally became gun owners before they turned eighteen; a quarter of women in the same group say they were younger than 18 when they first got their own gun. On average, men who grew up in a gun-owning household report that they first got their own gun when they were 17, compared with an boilerplate historic period of 26 for women who grew upward with guns in their household.

Overall, men who currently own guns or who have done so in the past report that they beginning became gun owners at age 19, on average; for women who ain or previously endemic guns, that historic period is 27.

Most Americans say they have fired a gun at some point

About vii-in-ten adults (72%) say they accept fired a gun at some betoken in their lives. While this is particularly the case amid those who own or have owned a gun (95%), about half of those who accept never personally owned a gun say they have fired one (55%).

Large majorities of about 9-in-x or more among current and by gun owners say they take fired a gun, and this is true across demographic groups. Among those who have never owned a gun, however, there are some significant demographic differences in the shares who say they take fired 1. In many ways, these differences mirror the patterns in gun ownership.

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

Amidst adults who have never personally owned a gun, vii-in-x of those who grew up with guns in their household say they have fired a gun at some betoken, compared with 47% of those who didn't abound up in a gun-owning household. Whether they accept or take not personally owned a gun, the average age at which those who grew upwardly with guns in the household say they first fired a gun is fourteen years, compared with 20 years among those who didn't abound up in a gun-owning household.

Men who grew up 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 historic period at which they first fired a gun is 17.

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

A majority of Americans say that society tends to accept a negative view of gun owners, a perception that is somewhat more mutual 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 society has a negative view of gun owners, while 38% say society's views are generally positive. Opinions are more mixed among gun owners themselves: 54% say society tends to take a negative view and 45% say it has a positive view of most gun owners.

Americans have a different assessment of how people in their own communities view gun owners. Well-nigh (61%) say people in their customs more often than not view gun owners in a positive manner, and this is particularly the case among those who alive in rural communities. Nigh eight-in-ten adults who alive in a rural area (79%) say people in their community generally take 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 likely than not-gun owners to say people in their community look at most gun owners in a positive mode; 78% of gun owners say this is the case, compared with 53% of not-gun owners. Assessments vary between gun owners and those who don't ain guns across community types, but 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 community generally take a positive view of most gun owners, less than half of those who do 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 own guns to say people in their community wait at gun owners in a positive fashion, only majorities of both groups offer this cess (85% and 74%, respectively).