America contains about 315 million people and about 300 million guns,
according to the New York Times. This is a scary statistic to anyone troubled by the widespread incidence of gunshot wounds and deaths in America. America is suffering great and intolerable loss of life, health and property to failed gun policy, when we compare ourselves to parts of the World with different policies. Politicians on both sides of the aisle react to these numbers assuming that great political power must sit in the hands of U.S. gun owners. Even
many Democrats want to tread softly when opposed by the gun lobby.
These numbers, of course, are mere statistics. When misused, statistics hide rather than illuminate the truth, and so it is here. This 19th Century image depicts, Mark Twain and Benjamin Disraeli famously discussing that
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
- Mark Twain's Own Autobiography: The Chapters from the North American Review
Alas, the answer to the question of how much political power the gun lobby really has requires that we resort to more statistics: the numbers that look behind who has America's guns. Come out into the tall grass and we will discuss what Gallup's 2011 survey of America's guns said about where the guns are and reflect a bit about whether America should bow politically to the tyranny of a minority of citizens who seek to obstruct gun policy reforms that are perfectly constitutional, common sense and in the interests of public safety and public health.
In 2011, Gallup conducted a large scale survey of gun ownership, possession, attitudes and demographics in America. The top line in that poll reported what Gallup called "Gun Households", at 47%, a 6% spike since 2010 and the most 1993. It was an odd question, however: "Do you have a gun in your home? (If no: Do you have a gun anywhere else on your property such as in your garage, barn, shed, or in your car or truck?" This very broad question sweeps in people with nothing more than knowledge that a gun is kept nearby.
Here is Gallup's graph of that top line:
I found Gallup's sub-headline more interesting and informative: "Majority of men, Republicans, and Southerners report having a gun in their households" Here is a chart reflecting that and more:
While Gallup tried to promote the top line of its poll as favoring the gun lobby with a show of gun ownership growth, the internal numbers show something else altogether. Barely a third of Americans own guns those 300 million guns we talked about. A majority of American households have no guns.
Who, mostly, does have the guns? Older, less educated, Southern or Midwestern Republican men. That is, more or less, the famously shrinking GOP base, the dwindling supply of angry white guys that Lindsey Graham bemoaned.
Gun policy in America has failed and we pay a terrible price for this in public safety and public health with huge humanitarian and fiscal expense. This is the stuff of the nightly news. Everybody knows it.
A shrinking minority of Americans have a direct interest in opposing common sense and perfectly Constitutional reforms to our failed policies. We must overcome this tyranny by a minority. Democracy must prevail. We must do it on the filibuster, on Congressional redistricting, the Electoral College, on vote protection, on clikmate, on Women's Health, AHCA implementation, etc. etc. Very urgently, we must do it on guns. We owe this to ourselves and our children.