Gallup: Americans See Guns as Enhancing Home Safety

By a two-to-one margin, Gallup finds that Americans believe that a gun in the home makes people safer. That is a big change from when the question was first asked in 2000 when Americans by a 51-to-35 percent margin thought that the opposite was true.

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Currently, 64% believe guns make homes safer, while 32% believe they make them more dangerous.

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Public opinion on this issue has shifted over time. When Gallup first asked this version of the question in 2000, a slim majority of 51% believed guns made homes more dangerous places to live. Americans’ views were evenly divided in 2004 and 2006, but by 2014, the majority had come to believe that guns made homes safer. Opinions have held steady since then. . . .

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The percentage of Republicans who think guns make homes safer has nearly doubled since 2000, from 44% to 86%. Independents also show a large shift in the same direction, from 36% in 2000 to 66%. Democrats are slightly more likely today (37%) than in 2000 (28%) to think guns make homes safer. . . .

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Jeffrey M. Jones, “Majority in U.S. Continues to Favor Stricter Gun Laws,” Gallup, October 31, 2023.