Gun ownership among U.S. adults is holding steady near 30%, but that masks a sharp increase in ownership among Republican women offsetting declines among Democratic and independent men. Meanwhile, ownership remains high among Republican men but is relatively scarce among Democratic and independent women.
According to six-year groupings of Gallup’s annual measurement of personal gun ownership since 2007, the percentage of Republican women who own a gun has increased from 19% in 2007-2012 to 33% in 2019-2024. Meanwhile, the rate has fallen seven percentage points among Democratic men, to 29%, and is down five points among independent men, to 39%. Republican men remain the most likely gun owners among gender and party identification subgroups, at 60%.
Combining the 2007-2024 data into three equal time periods allows for in-depth analysis of ownership by key subgroups and changes over time among those subgroups. Gallup previously reported on the first of the three six-year periods in 2013.
As then, gun ownership rates continue to diverge sharply by gender, even as more women personally own a gun. Men (43%) are more than twice as likely as women (20%) to own a gun. However, the gender gap has shrunk from 30 points in 2007-2012 to 23 points in 2019-2024.
While the gender gap has shrunk, the political party gap has expanded. In 2007-2012, personal gun ownership rates differed by 16 points among Republicans (38%) and Democrats (22%). Now the gap is 28 points (47% and 19%, respectively).
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