22% of Gun-Owning Households Have Added A Gun Since Anti-Police Protests Began

Over one-fifth of Americans who have a gun in their household have added one since the Black Lives Matter anti-police protests began in late May and feel safer because they’ve done so.

Forty-three percent (43%) of American adults say they or someone in their household owns a gun, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey.(To see survey question wording, click here.)

Of these Americans, 22% say they or someone in their household has purchased a gun since the violent anti-police protests began.

Fifty-four percent (54%) of adults who live in gun-owning households say they feel more safe with a gun in the house, although that’s down from 61% in February 2018. Only seven percent (7%) feel less safe. Thirty-eight percent (38%) think the presence of the gun has no impact on their personal safety.

Among those who have added a gun in the last four months, however, 90% feel more safe.

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The survey of 1,000 American Adults was conducted October 4-5, 2020 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Likely U.S. Voters are concerned that deadly attacks on the police will lead to a shortage of police officers and reduce public safety where they live, with 44% who are Very Concerned.

Men are more likely than women to have a gun in the household and to have added one since late May.

Those under 40 are more likely than their elders to have gotten a gun since the violent protests began.

White gun-owning households are less likely than black and other minority ones to have added a gun since late May. Whites are also less likely than the others to feel more safe with a gun in the house but more likely to say it has no impact on their personal safety.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of Republicans have a gun in their household, compared to 39% of Democrats and 37% of adults not affiliated with either major party.

In surveys since 2008, support among voters for more gun control has ranged from 40% to 64%. Support surges following a mass shooting incident, then falls back.

Forty-two percent (42%) of voters say there have been anti-police protests in their community this summer, and 48% of these voters say those protests have turned violent.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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