More survey data from the folks at Pew Research shows some interesting differences regarding politics and guns between gun owners who are and aren’t NRA members.
According to this story from guns.com, NRA members are predictably more critical of gun control policies and generally lean farther to the right than non-member gun owners.
Plus, the questionnaire found a majority of both members and non-members favored six of 10 stated policy issues, but there was a more than 10 percent difference for a different set of issues.
The story says the largest gap of 23 percent was between views on background checks for private sales. The data says 52 percent of NRA members agree whereas 75 percent of non-members agreed.
Other large gaps exist between views on hot button issues like creating a database to track gun sales, banning “assault weapons,” banning so-called high-capacity magazines, preventing the mentally ill from buying firearms, constitutional carry, and waiting periods for buying firearms.
However, both sets of gun owners were close in agreement on a number of other contentious issues, like No Fly No Buy lists, allowing concealed carry in more locations, and allowing teachers to carry in schools (only a 5 percent difference).
Some more interesting tidbits of info from the survey, which was conducted in March and April of this year, with 3,930 people across the country questioned (1,269 of which said the owned a firearm):
A majority of gun owners (61 percent) are Republicans
77 percent of NRA members say they are Republicans, or lean that way
Among non-NRA gun owners, 58 percent are Republican, while 39 percent are Democrats.
NRA members tend to own more guns—52 percent says they own more than five guns, compared to 24 percent of non-members who said the same.
NRA members shoot more and are more likely to keep at least one firearm loaded
NRA members are more than twice as likely to carry a gun outside the home than non-members
Three out of 10 adults say they own a gun, and of that group, only about 19 percent say they belong to the NRA, which claims 5 million active members.
44 percent of adults say the NRA has too much influence over gun legislation, while 15 percent say they have too little, and 40 percent say it’s just right
NRA members tend to be more politically active than their non-member counterparts