One of the things I’ve been saying for a while now is that the big difference between the two sides in the gun debate is a matter of focus. Those who support the Second Amendment tend to make that issue more of a touchstone issue, a gauge to see whether a candidate shares their ideals or not, while gun control supporters may well not prioritize gun control as an issue when choosing a candidate.

Meanwhile, gun control advocates like to point out that the National Rifle Association’s membership includes only a fraction of gun owners. They believe that this is somehow evidence that gun owners don’t share the organization’s ideals.

Well, a new study seems to suggest that one of us is right.

A new study by the University of Kansas political scientists examined the political behavior of gun owners versus non-gun owners in presidential election years from 1972 to 2012. Basically, they found that gun owners have progressively turned out to be all the more politically dynamic amid that time.

The discoveries could be entered in deciding why real gun control enactment in Congress has stayed tricky, even after mass shootings, for example, Newtown in 2012 and others, notwithstanding when a dominant part of individuals tend to help stricter gun laws.

The study showed that the American gun owners in recent years have exhibited higher levels of political participation including in voting, donating money to candidates and contacting elected officials.

Abbie Vegter, a graduate student in political science said, “Part of the reason majority opinions on gun control legislation aren’t turning into policy is that gun owner are a very strong political group who hold a lot of weight and hold a lot of influence despite being a minority in American politics.”

“Our major conclusion establishes gun owners as a distinct social group, and we see how that social group influences their likelihood of participating in politics.”

…

Owning a gun for hunting doesn’t necessarily mean being a hunter is a core part of your identity. But owning a gun because you think it’s an essential right guaranteed in the Constitution is more a part of your political identity. It’s something more attached from the get-go to politics.

The brains behind the study are looking at just why this is the case. One thing they suggest may have served to create this status is previous gun control laws passing at state and local levels.

That certainly has helped.

What most of us saw, though, was that nothing was ever going to be enough for them. Gun control activists wanted them all, and no matter what ground you gave up, they were ready to take even more of it. They wanted handguns. All of them, despite arguments that it would leave us defenseless. They want assault weapons despite arguments that it, too, would leave many defenseless. They want all of the guns. We’ve seen it.

Prior to us making our stand, the country was far more violent. The murder rates were far higher, and crime was out of control. Then we stood. We stood and started trying to take back our rights. We wanted to keep ourselves and our families safe.

As a result of that, crime decreased. Homicide rates decreased. Robbery rates decreased. Across the nation, violent crime fell.

Despite all that, anti-gun activists still want them all. We see it time and time again, and despite history proving us right, they keep pretending that they’re the ones worried about keeping people safe.

We saw it, and we remembered. So, we drew a line in the sand. We weren’t going to move back anymore and instead we’re going to keep on pushing despite the anti-gun claims. We want our rights. We want them all.

Do you want to know why gun owners are so politically active? The anti-gunners have made it impossible for us not to be.