More than 106 million American adults have at least one firearm in their home, according to a survey conducted in January and February by Responsive Management at the request of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. The figure indicates 42 percent of citizens 18 years of age or older have a firearm in their residence. More than 32 percent of the respondents personally own at least one gun.
Roughly a quarter of participants in the study, conducted by phone and on-line, spent at least one day target shooting during 2022—almost 60 percent of those with a firearm in their home. Another 6 percent of non-gun owners surveyed joined an acquaintance or family member for firing line sessions last year.
The survey notes, “In 2022, 17 percent of all shooters were new shooters. New shooters are those who started within the past 5 years. The rate of new shooters in 2022 is markedly higher than that of 2020 (when it was 12 percent) but is comparable to earlier surveys.”
In addition, the results defy mainstream media’s addition to the tired gun-owner stereotype. “New shooters are more likely to be Black, Democrats, Hispanic or Latino, younger, female, and from a large city or suburb,” the study found. “Compared to 2020, the percentage of new shooters who are Democrats nearly doubled, and there are large increases in the percentages of new shooters who are young, female and from a large city or suburban area….About a third of sport shooters in 2022 were female, the highest portion yet. This is up from 2009, when females made up just 25.8 percent of all sport shooters.”
The pursuit’s future is also a bright one. The survey’s authors also noted that, “In 2022, younger shooters made up the largest portion of shooters, whereas the largest share in every other survey year was the 35- to 54-year-old age group.”
Results of the study were weighted to reflect current U.S. Census data by state and region. Final sampling error came in at plus or minus 1.76 percent with a 95-percent confidence level in results.
