Two in every five adults (39%) live in households where one or more guns are owned. One in every six (16%) live in households with a rifle and a shotgun and a pistol. These are the results of The Harris Poll of 1,014 adults surveyed by telephone between April 26 and May 5^.

The proportion of all adults who live in households with rifles (29%), shotguns (29%) or pistols (23%) has not changed significantly since 1996. However, gun ownership – the number of people living in gun-owning households – was higher in 1973 (48%) and 1980 (48%) than it is today (39%).

• While fewer people live in gun-owning households today than in 1973 or 1980, the number owning pistols, shotguns or rifles has not declined. This apparent anomaly is the result of gun-owning households being more likely to have two or three of these types of weapons than they were 20 to 30 years ago. However, today more people live in households with no guns.
  
• Gun ownership is lower (17%) among people in low-income households (less than $15,000 income) and higher in households with incomes between $35,000 and $50,000 (47%) and between $50,001 and $75,000 (51%).
  
• Gun ownership is higher among Republicans (49%) than among Democrats (28%) or Independents (41%).
  
• Gun ownership is lowest in the East (34%) and highest in the South (43%).
  
• People aged between 25 and 64 are more likely to own guns than those aged 18-24 or 65 and over. Only 19% of those aged 18-24 own guns.

Humphrey Taylor is the Chairman of The Harris Poll, Harris Interactive.

TABLE 1

GUN OWNERSHIP

"Do you happen to have in your home or garage any guns or revolvers?"

IF YES:

"Do you have a pistol or not?"

"Do you have a shotgun or not?"

"Do you have a rifle or not?"

TABLE 2

MULTIPLE OWNERSHIP OF GUNS

TABLE 3

GUN OWNERSHIP – DEMOGRAPHICS

The Harris Poll was conducted by telephone within the United States between April 26 – May 5, 2001, among a nationwide cross section of 1,014 adults. Figures for age, sex, race, education, number of adults and number of voice/telephone lines in the household were weighted where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population.

In theory, with a sample of this size, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a statistical precision of plus or minus 3 percentage points of what they would be if the entire adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (non-response), question wording and question order, interviewer bias, weighting by demographic control data and screening (e.g., for likely voters). It is difficult or impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors.