Gun Ownership Is Rising Among A New Group, Poll Shows

The stereotype of the older, white male gun owner is becoming less accurate.

Gun ownership rose sharply among Republican women over the last five years, while firearm ownership became increasingly aligned with party affiliation, Gallup survey data released Thursday shows.

The new data covers the COVID-19 pandemic years, in which Americans went on a prolonged gun-buying spree. Industry watchers have long suspected that the flurry of gun-buying broadened the demographics of gun ownership in the United States.

Gallup’s polling appears to bear out that impression. Gun ownership is less tied to race, age or gender today than it has been in the past, according to the survey data, which is divided into three six-year periods starting in 2007.

But gun ownership also appears to increasingly show signs of political polarization.

Some 19% of Democrats surveyed from 2019 to 2024 said they owned firearms — two points higher than in the six-year period preceding it and three points lower than in the six-year period from 2007 to 2012.