New gun ownership survey challenges anti-gun narratives with fresh data
A redesigned National Firearms Survey by Georgetown professor William English finds record numbers of Americans owning AR-15s, using guns defensively, and carrying in public, contradicting gun control advocates' claims.
A Georgetown professor's decision to re-run a major gun ownership survey after criticism from gun control activists has produced results that appear to strengthen, rather than undermine, his original findings. William English released the redesigned 2026 National Firearms Survey online, and the new data shows that key trends among American gun owners have accelerated over the past five years.
The original survey, published in 2021, was described as the most comprehensive assessment of gun ownership ever conducted. It found that defensive gun uses were common, that millions of Americans owned rifles and magazines often targeted by gun control advocates, and that stereotypes about who exercises Second Amendment rights were inaccurate. Activists criticized the report's methodology, arguing that its questions inflated ownership numbers and that its estimates of defensive gun use were implausible.
English responded by re-administering the survey with revised questions designed to address those specific complaints. The new survey asked whether respondents currently own an AR-15 or a similarly styled semiautomatic rifle with a pistol grip, a feature commonly cited in assault weapon definitions. The results showed an estimated 26.4 million American adults now own such a rifle, up from the 24.6 million who were estimated in 2021 to have ever owned one.
Magazine ownership also increased. In the 2021 survey, 48% of gun owners, roughly 39 million Americans, were estimated to have ever owned a magazine capable of holding more than 10 rounds. The new survey estimates that 44.5 million Americans currently own one, and gun owners are now slightly more likely to own such a magazine than not, at 50.5%.
The new data also revised the estimate of defensive gun uses upward. The 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 figure implausible. The redesigned survey yielded an annual average of 2.2 million defensive gun uses, with part of the increase attributed to new questions about protection against animal attacks, which accounted for over 8% of reported uses.
Public carry habits have shifted as well. Seventy percent of gun owners now report at least some circumstances in which they carry a handgun for self-defense, up from 56% in the original survey. The report estimates that 33.6 million Americans are public carriers, meaning they have a concealed carry permit and carry for self-defense at least sometimes, a 60% increase in five years.
English noted that the legal landscape has changed considerably since the original survey was conducted in early 2021. Since July 2021, twelve states with over 117 million people have enacted permitless carry laws. The Supreme Court's 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association also opened the door for more Americans to carry in public, even though some states still impose significant barriers to obtaining concealed carry permits.
The combination of expanded legal access to public carry and historically high violent crime rates appears to have contributed to a nationwide shift in attitudes about armed self-defense in public spaces, according to the report's author.
