Posted on 03/12/2015 2:09:20 PM PDT by richardb72
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. . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Yeah, a lot of people have lost guns in boating accidents.
Uh, just going to say that if anyone calls me on the phone or sends me a letter or any other type of communication asking me if I have a gun, the answer is no, of course not.
If my doctor asks me if I have a gun, the answer is no, of course not.
I really cannot imagine why anyone would answer such a question any other way than that.
No doubt. I don’t have ANY guns, none at all ;- )
Or any dogs for that matter
After Obama got elected people I worked with who had never owned a gun bought one along with significant ammo. We discussed this at work and most indicated their intention of not admitting to having a gun if asked. (At the time, a form my doctor gave me asked and I said I didn’t own one even though I had one in my pocket.)
That very same thing has happened to me more than once!
To find out it has happened to others too...
Yeah. I’m going to tell someone on the phone all about what’s in my house...
Tom Smith, whoever this gun-grabbing loser is, must be delusional.
Gun sales have gone through the roof since Newtown.
Also, NRA membership increased by millions since then as well.
Besides, what intelligent gun owner is going to discuss his firearm ownership with some stranger calling him on the telephone?
Not if the crowd I saw today in an SC gunstore is any measure.
Gun ownership has gone down, I haven’t been able to
afford to buy a new piece in ages.
Millions of guns were lost from canoes capsizing in cataclysmic cataracts along the Chattahoochee River.
It just means that they aren’t blabbing it to other people.
What good is a gun IF you’re too much of a coward to use it..
except for target practice or “a THREAT”..
Civil War II should have happened a good while ago....
sorry... too many afraid of the inevitable blood and carnage..
“worse” AND.................. the democrats KNOW it...
Has anyone looked up the history of this, “General Social Survey,” group?
I wonder which party they donate to...
Not around here it isn’t. Hardly a day goes by that I do not hear shooting out in the woods around here. We live outside of town in the country and you can hear people shooting all the time. Lots of private land out there that people hunt and shoot on. Some weekends sounds like a Nam firefight.
The “study” was paid for by the National Science Foundation, an acknowledged lefty outfit.
Exactly
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.