Title: A Shrinking Minority: The Continuing Decline of Gun Ownership in America

Publication Date: April 2011

What does it say?

Gun ownership in the United States continues to decline, dropping by more than 40 percent from 1977 to 2010.  Barely one-third of households reported owning a gun (32.3 percent) in 2010.

Researchers at the Violence Policy Center attribute the decline to several potential factors, including the aging of the largely white male gun-owning cohort, diminishing interest in guns by younger generations and the end of military conscription.

The data were generated by the longstanding national survey, the General Social Survey, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

How can I use it?

Use this research to counter the perception that gun ownership is on the upswing.  Despite the National Rifle Association's desperate attempts to gin up gun sales for the gun industry, both household and personal gun ownership continue to decline.

Citation

Violence Policy Center, A Shrinking Minority: The Continuing Decline of Gun Ownership in America, April 2011

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