In a recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, gun owners were found to be more likely to be politically active -contacting legislators to voice their support for the protection or strengthening of Second Amendment rights.

Twenty-one percent of gun owners said they have contacted public officials on the issue, with 9 percent stating they had done so within the last year. Only 12 percent of nonowners responded as having done so.

Sadly, only twenty-eight percent of gun owners report donating money to groups that lobby for pro-gun legislation, including 12 percent in the last year, compared to 10 percent of nonowners who say they’ve ever given money based on gun rights.

More than 80 percent of people in the new survey also said they favor items expanding gun-purchase background checks and banning gun purchases by people on no-fly or government watch lists.

In a time when 52 percent of adults responded in favor of stricter gun control, 30 percent saying current laws are comfortable, and 18 percent responding they should remove restrictions, we should all be throwing our support behind legislators and policies that are 2A-friendly.

When asked whether gun control or Second Amendment rights rule supreme, 51 percent responded with the right to keep and bear arms, a slight drop from last year when 52 percent sided with the Second.

Also, roughly half of gun owners said all or most of their friends also own guns, compared to just 1-in-10 non-gun owners.

The research also included questions for National Rifle Association members, but according to the NRA-ILA:

Pew’s recent survey on firearm-related attitudes and experiences of U.S. adults found – based on the percentage saying “yes” to the question about whether they are NRA members – that more than 14 million Americans consider themselves NRA members.  The real NRA membership of about 5 million falls well short of this measure, even accounting for any statistical error the survey produced.

What this means in terms of polling, and one thing that Pew and others simply do not make clear to the public when reporting on the survey results, is that Pew did not actually survey NRA members.  Any views, beliefs, or opinions they ascribe to “NRA members” is a simple guess on their part.  Pew does not know what percentage of NRA members support one law or another, how many guns they own, or anything else for that matter.  At best, they can claim to have the responses of Americans who SAY they are NRA members, but they certainly cannot say much beyond that.

Instead, Pew surveyed a population which over-reported their membership status based on their positive affect for the NRA and our mission. In simpler terms, they didn’t measure what NRA members actually think. The NRA knows how our members think about firearm-related issues, as well as which firearm-related activities they support or ascribe to.  Other institutions do not have access to NRA membership lists for any purpose whatsoever, and this certainly includes surveying them about their beliefs and attitudes about firearms and related policies.

And more than half of gun owners said more guns equals less crime. 54 percent of gun owners responded to the survey they think more Americans owning guns would reduce crime, while 23 percent of non-gun owners said the same.

Just goes to show you, being politically active is more important than ever – especially when it comes to defending and strengthening our Second Amendment rights!