The General Social Survey GSS survey director is Tom Smith, a gun control supporter who in turn is supported financially by the Joyce Foundation which is known for gun control advocacy. He has long believed that presenting low and falling gun ownership is important to persuade politicians to pass more gun laws. For example, Smith's survey results are 20% lower than projections by John Zogby. (In the last elections, Zogby results polling samples of voters were within 2 points average of the races Zogby predicted so they know how to do accurate polls.)
"Share of Homes With Guns Shows 4-Decade Decline", New York Times, 10 Mar 2013. Quote: "The household gun ownership rate has fallen from an average of 50 percent in the 1970s to 49 percent in the 1980s, 43 percent in the 1990s and 35 percent in the 2000s, according to the survey data, analyzed by The New York Times. ... Measuring the level of gun ownership can be a vexing problem, with various recent national polls reporting rates between 35 percent and 52 percent. Responses can vary because the survey designs and the wording of questions differ." That is based on the GSS. And of course the NYT a consistent cheerleader for national gun control based on the NYC implementation of the 1911 Sullivan Act prefers the smaller number. Daniel Webster, the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, and another gun control promoter, backs GSS poll.
The 2012 GSS figure is 34% of American households. That is supposed to be interpreted as meaning gun control laws will work. Not really. It is supposed to tell politicians they can pass restrictive laws on legal gun ownership without the backlash of 1994, when the Democreats lost several races over the original Assault Weapons Ban.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/150353/Self-Reported-Gun-Ownership-Highest-1993.aspx
Lydia Saad, "Self-Reported Gun Ownership in U.S. Is Highest Since 1993", Gallup Politics, 26 Oct 2011. Quote: "Forty-seven percent of American adults currently report that they have a gun in their home or elsewhere on their property. This is up from 41% a year ago and is the highest Gallup has recorded since 1993, albeit marginally above the 44% and 45% highs seen during that period."
The Gallup polls on a gun in the home/elsewhere on property showed:
"Do you have a gun in your home? (If no: Do you have a gun anywhere on your property such as your garage, barn, shed, or in your car or truck?)"
1991 50%, 1994 54%, 1996 40%, 1997 45%, 1999 42%, 2001 41%, 2002 44%,
2003 45%, 2005 40%, 2006 42%, 2008 44%, 2009 43%, 2010 42%, 2011 41%,
2011 47%
I would explain the 1994 54% drop to 1996 40% as a reaction to the anti-gun rhetoric of the era of the first AWB, especially following the 1993 Waco Raid and the 1995-1996 Congressional Hearings on Waco, making 14% of the population afraid to report that they owned a gun.
Also in Oct 2011, support for a handgun ban on the Gallup Poll dropped to 26% the lowest level measured. In 1959 Gallup found 60% support for a national handgun ban. Since 1975, the majority of Americans polled opposed a handgun ban.
"Do you think there should or should not be a law that would ban possession of handguns, except by the police and other authorized persons?"
1959 60% Yes, 36% No, 4% Undecided
2011 26% Yes, 73% No, 1% Undecided
Personally, I don't have a high opinion of Tom Smith's gun stats: he is blinded by faith in gun control. Smith questioned Gary Kleck's National Self Defense Survey defensive gun use DGU findings by pointing out that women were 40% of the defensive gun users in the NSDS respondents, but only 20% of reported gun owners. If a DGU survey first asks, "Do you own a gun? (If no, skip; if yes, ask: Have you used a gun in defense?)", it gets a lower defensive gun use response than a DGU survey that asks "Have you used a gun in defense?" up front, because many people don't own a gun but live in a household with a gun owner and thus, have a weapon available for defense even if they do not own a gun. Similarly, Cook and Ludwig questioned the NSDS and NSPOF results because some defensive gun users later in the surveys denied owning a gun. Of four women known to me to have used guns in self-defense, two owned the gun they used, one used a gun that belonged to her employer, and one used a gun that belonged to her boyfriend. I find it believeable that 40% of the self-defenders are women.
