Harvard Public Health Reveals Surprising Trends About Gun Owners

Over the last year, states have changed their carry laws significantly. Open carry has increased across the country and the number of public places people can carry their guns has increased. Recently, the NRA has pushed for more states to allow permitless carry. This allows gun owners to carry their guns with no permit and no safety training.

While many people argue that this isn’t much of a concern, it may be, considering the changing demographics of gun owners, as reported by Harvard Public Health. We know that adult gun owners don’t only have one gun. They have many guns with an average of 17 per adult. This is trend that has been evolving for the last 20 years with the rate of adults carrying guns declining. This is despite the increase in gun sales over the same period.

What does this mean? It’s not that more people are buying guns over the years. It’s that gun owners are buying more guns.

It’s safe to say that many of the gun owners who are buying more guns already have a permit or license to carry. This means that permitless carry shouldn’t have as much of an effect as many Americans are expecting.

What the Future Holds for the Gun Industry
As the current gun owners grow older, there will be a new generation of gun owners. This new generation will be introduced to more permitless states. Will this mean there will be more guns on the streets carried by people who have no permit or safety training? Maybe not as many as one would think…

According to the General Social Survey, the number of young adults who own guns has decreased since 1980. In 2015, 14% of young adults owned guns, which is significantly less than the 23% in the 1980s. The NRA isn’t pleased with this decline, as its future rests in the hands of the next generation.

The biggest influence in the decrease in gun ownership among young and older adults is the recent mass shooting the last few years. The shootings in malls, clubs, and Sandy Hook Elementary have changed the minds of many gun advocates, especially millennials. As Americans recover from the mass shootings, they will likely grow stronger and more confident in the benefits of gun ownership and carry. This will likely shift the rates of young adults who become gun owners. Of course, the only way to know is to wait and see what happens as the current generations take advantage of the new gun laws states are enacting in the coming years.