Since gun sales exploded in 2020 in response to the COVID pandemic, societal shutdown, and civil unrest, we've seen plenty of anecdotal repots about the diversification of gun owners. Hard data, though, has been a little more difficult to come by.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation has used industry data to report, among other things, that African American women were the fastest growing demographic of gun owners in the country, at least between 2020 and 2022. The group has also noted significant increases in gun ownership on the left, though again that claim appears to have largely anecdotal in nature.
Now, though, a group of researchers says they've got some real world data confirming what we've suspected. More lefties really are buying guns, and their purchases have been fueled by the Trump administration. These researchers, it should be noted, are hardly pro-Second Amendment in their viewpoints. One of their takeaways from their research is that with gun ownership broadening, "[p]olicies and programs that encourage secure storage and discourage firearm carrying may be increasingly important."
The study involved surveying 1,359 individuals about their plans for purchasing firearms, carrying guns, storing firearms, and several related questions. Conservatives, as you might imagine, were the most supportive of buying a gun, but there was a significant number of lefties who felt the same.
Highly conservative individuals represented a lower percentage of those not intending to purchase firearms post-election (7.4%) relative to those intending to (15.2%) and those undecided about doing so (11.5%). Moderate individuals represented a lower percentage of those not intending to purchase firearms post-election (40.2%) than those undecided about doing so (47.3%). Somewhat liberal individuals represented a higher percentage of those not intending to purchase firearms post-election (19.9%) relative to those intending to (6.5%) and those undecided about doing so (12.8%). Among highly liberal individuals, similar percentages were observed in those not intending to purchase firearms (10.1%) and those intending to purchase (10.9%), while a lower percentage was found among those undecided (5.7%).
Significant differences emerged based on pre-election intent to purchase firearms (Χ2 = 563.34; p < .001; V = 0.38). Among individuals planning to purchase firearms at follow-up, 18.6% had indicated they were not planning to do so in the next 12 months when asked pre-election. Among those individuals, 33.3% had indicated pre-election that a quick Trump victory would increase their purchasing intent and 33.3% identified as highly liberal.
It's interesting to me that those who self-described as "highly liberal" were more likely to to purchase a firearm than those who called themselves "somewhat" liberal. I would have expected the opposite conclusion, to be honest.
Maybe the days of the Blue Dog Democrats really are completely over. If they're not an extinct species, the moderate Dems who are supportive of the Second Amendment appear to be a distinct minority, even among the small (but growing) number of gun-owning Democrats. The largest faction of gun owners on the left, at least according to this research, are hard-core lefties who have little in common with their conservative gun-owning counterparts.
My guess is most folks who would have identified or felt comfortable as a Blue Dog Democrat two decades ago have drifted away from the Democrat Party altogether, and are now either Republicans or independents. The Democrats most likely to own guns these days are those who most believe their rights are threatened by the Trump administration.
I do wonder how many of these people are concerned about their right to keep and bear arms being threatened by Trump? I recently ran across one on social media, who is convinced that Trump will declare martial law and outlaw gun possession before July 4, 2027, but my assumption is that their bigger concerns are threats to free speech and "democracy" in general, not necessarily their Second Amendment rights.
The researchers claim that "gun culture" is much more prevalent among conservative gun owners than liberal ones. If that's true, then any effort to grow the paltry number of 2A activists on the left should probably start there; not by hammering them over the head with the importance of voting for politicians who'll protect their right to keep and bear arms, but through less partisan activities that focus more on training, competition, recreational shooting, and building/modding firearms.
I think we're more likely to actively work to defend and protect our rights when those rights are also a fundamental part of our way of life. The number of gun owners on the left is already growing, but in order for them to have any sort of appreciable impact on Democrat politics they need a "gun culture" of their own, or at least one where they can feel at home. At the moment, their primary options are groups like the John Brown Gun Club, Socialist Rifle Association, and the like. Entities that are a little more mainstream, and even apolitical, have the potential to draw in existing gun owners on the left, but also to offer a "safe space" for those lefties who are 2A-curious... and still to the right of flag-waving Commies and Democrat Socialists like Bernie Sanders and AOC.
