Blame it on government officials who order cops not to enforce the law; blame it on a military that is more concerned with pronoun usage than killing bad guys; blame it on a culture that glorifies violent felons; blame it on whatever you want.
But the truth of the matter is that gun sales are on the rise… and not just a little.
In an article for Forbes magazine, reporter Robert Hart notes of a recent Gallup poll citing that not only are gun sales up, but popular support for stricter gun control laws have made a noticeable drop;
Americans’ support for a complete ban on handguns is the lowest on record, according to a new Gallup poll, part of a wider dip in support for stricter gun control measures as gun sales, violent crime and gun violence soared during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Less than one in five (19%) Americans supported a complete ban on handguns in the U.S., except for police and authorized persons, according to the poll of 823 adults living in all 50 states, conducted between October 1 and 19.
It’s the lowest level of support since Gallup began polling the issue in 1980 and down six points from last year, the poll found.
While no political party surveyed indicated majority support for a ban on handguns, Gallup found marked political differences—40% of Democrats were in favor compared to just 14% of Independents and 6% of Republicans—with the overall drop in support “largely attributable to political independents,” which has fallen 16 points since 2019.
Last year was one of the deadliest for gun violence in decades, with violent crime rising for the first time in four years. Gun sales hit an all-time high during the pandemic and nearly 23 million were sold during 2020 alone, a two-thirds jump from the year before. While sales have dropped in 2021, they remain well above pre-pandemic levels, and researchers are divided over whether the surge is responsible for the increase in violence.
31%. That’s how many American adults say they own a gun, according to Gallup. While this figure has remained unchanged in decades, the reasons people give for doing so have. Some 88% said they own a gun to protect themselves against crime, up from 67% in 2005.