NRA: Increasingly out of touch
Gun owners vs. the NRA: What the polling shows
By John Sides, WashPost, Updated: December 23, 2012
Poli-Sci Perspective is a weekly Wonkblog feature in which Georgetown University’s Dan Hopkins and George Washington University’s Danny Hayes and John Sides offer an empirical perspective on the issues dominating Washington. In this edition, Sides examines research showing that the strongly anti-gun control views embraced by the National Rifle Association are not only at odds with those of most Americans who do not own guns, but differ from those of many gun owners themselves.
After the Newtown shooting, Senator and National Rifle Association member Joe Manchin said that NRA would “offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again.” It sounded as if the NRA might be softening its staunch opposition to gun control. But at a press conference on Friday, NRA president Wayne LaPierre did nothing of the sort—blaming gun-free school zones, violent video games and films, and the media for rewarding killers with “wall-to-wall attention.” LaPierre ultimately proposed the “National School Shield Emergency Response Program,” which would put armed security in every single school.
Perhaps LaPierre’s comments weren’t much of surprise. They were consistent with what the NRA has been arguing for years: to fight gun violence, make sure that people can fight back with guns of their own. But what might be surprising is how much the NRA is out of step not just with many Americans, but with many gun owners themselves.
In December, 2011, the survey firm YouGov interviewed 45,000 Americans and asked whether they or someone in their household owned a gun and whether they were members of the NRA. About 22 percent of the sample reported owning a gun, 13 percent said that someone else in their household owned a gun, and 59 percent reported not owning a gun. The remaining 6 percent were not sure. Thus, about 35 percent of Americans had a gun in their house—a number, incidentally, much lower than in an October, 2011 Gallup poll but more in line with data from the General Social Survey.
(More here.)
Poli-Sci Perspective is a weekly Wonkblog feature in which Georgetown University’s Dan Hopkins and George Washington University’s Danny Hayes and John Sides offer an empirical perspective on the issues dominating Washington. In this edition, Sides examines research showing that the strongly anti-gun control views embraced by the National Rifle Association are not only at odds with those of most Americans who do not own guns, but differ from those of many gun owners themselves.
After the Newtown shooting, Senator and National Rifle Association member Joe Manchin said that NRA would “offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again.” It sounded as if the NRA might be softening its staunch opposition to gun control. But at a press conference on Friday, NRA president Wayne LaPierre did nothing of the sort—blaming gun-free school zones, violent video games and films, and the media for rewarding killers with “wall-to-wall attention.” LaPierre ultimately proposed the “National School Shield Emergency Response Program,” which would put armed security in every single school.
Perhaps LaPierre’s comments weren’t much of surprise. They were consistent with what the NRA has been arguing for years: to fight gun violence, make sure that people can fight back with guns of their own. But what might be surprising is how much the NRA is out of step not just with many Americans, but with many gun owners themselves.
In December, 2011, the survey firm YouGov interviewed 45,000 Americans and asked whether they or someone in their household owned a gun and whether they were members of the NRA. About 22 percent of the sample reported owning a gun, 13 percent said that someone else in their household owned a gun, and 59 percent reported not owning a gun. The remaining 6 percent were not sure. Thus, about 35 percent of Americans had a gun in their house—a number, incidentally, much lower than in an October, 2011 Gallup poll but more in line with data from the General Social Survey.
(More here.)
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