I've said it in the past, and I'll no doubt say it again, but here goes: if all of America's conservative groups operated as effectively as the Second Amendment movement, the US would be a solid red nation, and "DSA" would stand for "Don't Slurp Applejuice".
But this? This is a particularly sweet "W".
Students at Georgetown University were (ahem) "triggered" that Professor William English published a survey that claimed to show some inconvenient truths — among others, that a third of Americans owned firearms as of 2021, and an overwhelming majority of them approve of carrying firearms in public for self-defense:
Consistent with other recent survey research, the survey finds an overall rate of adult firearm ownership of 31.9%, suggesting that in excess of 81.4 million Americans aged 18 and over own firearms. The survey further finds that approximately a third of gun owners (31.1%) have used a firearm to defend themselves or their property, often on more than one occasion, and it estimates that guns are used defensively by firearms owners in approximately 1.67 million incidents per year. Handguns are the most common firearm employed for self-defense (used in 65.9% of defensive incidents), and in most defensive incidents (81.9%) no shot was fired. Approximately a quarter (25.2%) of defensive incidents occurred within the gun owner's home, and approximately half (53.9%) occurred outside their home, but on their property. About one out of ten (9.1%) defensive gun uses occurred in public, and about one out of twenty (4.8%) occurred at work.
A majority of gun owners (56.2%) indicate that they carry a handgun for self-defense in at least some circumstances, and about 35% of gun owners report carrying a handgun with some frequency. We estimate that approximately 20.7 million gun owners (26.3%) carry a handgun in public under a ``concealed carry'' regime; and 34.9% of gun owners report that there have been instances in which they had wanted to carry a handgun for self-defense, but local rules did not allow them to carry.
The students , and the gun control mob that watches these things, were not amused:
Gun control activists predictably hated this. They attacked the report’s conclusions and author, blasting the survey over nitpicky concerns. English explained how the alleged problems wouldn’t have significantly impacted the results. Critics categorically dismissed the report anyway.
So, English humored them. He re-administered the survey, "fixing" its alleged "mistakes."
How did it turn out?
Well, if you've followed every debate about gun violence statistics, history or the law ever, you know the results.
Which were the same as the results of every debate about gun violence statistics, history or the law ever. In this case, the re-do of the research showed that Americans are more likely to currently own a firearm, to own "assault weapons", and especially more likely to approve of the use, and particularly to have used, a firearm in some level of self-defense (I've added emphasis):
English’s original survey estimated that American adults use firearms to defend themselves, their property or others 1.67 million times annually, excluding military, police and security work.
Critics called that estimate "implausible," arguing that the broad definition — which included incidents where a gun was mentioned but not displayed — and allegedly "leading" questions meant many reported uses may have been "imagined."
Ironically, critics were right that the numbers were off, but wrong about the direction: the 2021 survey may have actually undercounted defensive gun uses.
The new dataset yielded an annual average of 2.2 million defensive gun uses. Part of the increase likely came from asking about protection against animal attacks, which accounted for over 8% of reported uses.
And the pro-gun side has increased its culture-war velocity: even since 2021, things have opened up since then, according to Amy Swearer:
Since July 1, 2021, 12 states with over 117 million people have enacted permitless carry laws, making it easier for law-abiding gun owners to arm themselves in public. Montana’s law took effect during the original survey. The Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in “New York State Rifle & Pistol Association” also opened the door for tens of millions of Americans to finally engage in some manner of public carry, even if the 10 states whose public carry laws were implicated still make it incredibly difficult, expensive and time-consuming to get a concealed carry permit.
This increased access to public carry, combined with historically unprecedented violent crime spikes, seems to have facilitated something of a nationwide “come to Jesus” moment about the importance of armed self-defense in public spaces.
And if the message is smacking Georgetown kids upside the head, that's a good sign.
