A NBC News poll conducted November 10-14, 2023, shows over half of Americans–52 percent–say they or someone in their household owns a gun.
NBC News noted that this was the highest level of gun ownership ever recorded in one of their polls.
In 2013, NBC News found the percentage of Americans owning guns was at 42 percent. In 2019, 46 percent of Americans said they or someone in their household owned a gun.
Now, the percentage is at 52 percent.
Moreover, gun ownership among Democrats has increased through the years of polling as well.
In 2004, 33 percent of Democrats said they or someone in their home owned a gun. In 2023, the percentage of Democrats admitting gun ownership was at 41 percent.
Independents have remained fairly constant, with 41 percent of Independents saying they or someone in their household owned a gun in 2004 and 45 percent saying the same in 2023. (Independents who claimed gun ownership increased to 49 percent in 2013.)
Breitbart News reported a Harvard/Harris Poll which showed 6 in 10 voters said owning a gun is part of defending oneself against criminals.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at
