Still, many gun owners with children say at least some of their guns remain unlocked and loaded. In fact, 30% of these gun owners say there is a firearm that is both loaded and easily accessible when they are at home. Overall, about seven in ten gun owners report owning a handgun or pistol (72%), while 62% say they own a rifle and 54% own a shotgun. Handguns are more common among those who own a protective weapon. Gun in K-12 schools makes students, teachers and staff less safe, but after school shootings, the gun lobby predictably calls for more guns in schools. In some states, untrained school security guards are allowed to carry firearms on school grounds, and about half of states allow teachers or other school employees with concealed carrying permits to carry firearms on school grounds with or without individual authorization. Gun owners and non-owners are also deeply divided on several gun policy proposals, but there is agreement on some restrictions, such as preventing people with mental illness and those on federal watch lists from purchasing firearms. Among gun owners, there are a variety of views on gun policy, which are largely determined by political affiliation. Most Republicans, on the other hand, favor people being able to carry hidden guns in more places (72 percent) and teachers and school officials carrying weapons in K-12 schools (66 percent). These proposals are supported by only 20% or 20% respectively. 24% of Democrats support him. Male gun owners are more likely to participate in some of these activities than women who own firearms. For example, 58% of men who own firearms report shooting or going to a shooting range at least sometimes, compared with 43% of female gun owners.
Men also hunt more often than women and watch more gun-focused TV shows or videos. A strong majority of gun owners and non-owners support restricting access to firearms for people with mental illness and those on federal no-fly or no-fly lists (82% or more prefer each group). In addition, a strong majority favors background checks for private gun sales and shows (77% among gun owners and 87% among non-owners). Americans see many factors that play a role in gun violence in the country today. A whopping 86% say the ease with which people can illegally acquire firearms contributes much, or a lot, to gun violence; More than half say the same about family instability (74%), lack of economic opportunities (65%), the amount of gun violence in video games (60%), the ease with which people can legally obtain firearms (60%), and the amount of gun violence in film and television (55%). The U.S. government prioritizes gun ownership over basic human rights. Despite the large number of guns in circulation and the large number of people killed by firearms each year, there is a shocking lack of federal regulation that could save thousands.
The experience with firearms begins relatively early, especially for those who grew up in a gun owned household. Men who grew up in a house with guns and have ever shot a gun report shooting a gun for the first time when they were on average 12 years old. Among women who grew up in gun ownership households and have ever shot a gun, the average age at which they first shot a gun is 17. Men tend to become gun owners at an earlier age than women: 19 years on average compared to 27 years for women. There is broad partisan agreement on some gun policy proposals, but most are politically divisive, according to the April 2021 poll. Majorities in both parties` coalitions favor two measures that would restrict access to guns: preventing people with mental illness from buying guns (85% of Republicans and 90% of Democrats favor it) and subjecting private gun sales and gun shows to background checks (70% of Republicans, 92% of Democrats). Majorities in both parties are also opposed to people being allowed to carry hidden firearms without authorization. In October 2017, a gunman on the thirty-second floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, opened fire on a crowd of spectators, killing fifty-eight people before killing himself. More than 500 people were injured in the attack, which surpassed the 2016 Orlando shooting as the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Authorities found twenty-three guns in the shooter`s hotel room, including twelve rifles equipped with an impact rifle stock, an accessory that allows a semi-automatic rifle to quickly expel ammunition like a fully automatic rifle. Without the bump fire stocks, which were legally acquired in the Las Vegas shooting case, the shooter wouldn`t have been able to fire as many shots as possible.
Before the incident, most Americans didn`t know about Bump Fire stocks and began to wonder if they should be legally available. Gun control advocates have called for a ban on devices, similar to fully automatic assault weapons. Critics of such a proposal have argued that bump stocks are not difficult to create and could be made on a 3D printer. 1) the Firearms Free Schools Act (which requires certain K-12 schools to expel students armed with firearms). The U.S. Supreme Court has heard several cases related to the Second Amendment and the laws that seek to regulate it. In 1934, Congress passed the National Firearms Act (NFA), the nation`s first major federal gun control bill, which was challenged in the Supreme Court within five years of its passage. The law required the registration of certain firearms, imposed taxes on the sale and manufacture of firearms, and restricted the sale and possession of high-risk weapons such as machine guns and sawed-off shotguns. The survey found that Americans are widely exposed to guns, whether they personally own one or not. At least two-thirds have lived in a household with a firearm at some point in their lives. And about seven in ten — including 55 percent of those who have never personally owned a gun — say they have fired a gun at some point.
Today, three in ten U.S. adults say they own a gun, and 36% say that while they don`t own one now, they may be open to owning a gun in the future. One-third of adults say they don`t currently own a gun and can`t imagine doing so. “Gun owners” are those who report personally owning one or more firearms. “Non-owners who live in a family of gun owners” are those who say they do not personally own firearms, but someone else in their household does. As a result of their more frequent participation in firearms-related activities, male gun owners have more social ties to other gun owners than their female counterparts: 54% of men who own firearms say that all or most of their friends are also gun owners. while 40% of women say the same.
