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billh58

(6,635 posts)
Mon Jan 5, 2015, 06:32 PM Jan 2015

A Profile of Gun Owners

http://www.people-press.org/2013/03/12/section-3-gun-ownership-trends-and-demographics/

"The general profile of gun owners in America differs substantially from the general public. Roughly three-quarters (74%) of gun owners are men, and 82% are white. Taken together, 61% of adults who own guns are white men. Nationwide, white men make up only 32% of the U.S. adult population.

Gun owners and those who do not own guns differ politically. While 37% of all adults identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, that proportion jumps to 51% among gun owners. Among those in households without guns, just 27% identify with the Republican Party or lean Republican, while a majority (61%) are Democrats or lean Democratic."


No surprises here...
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NecklyTyler

(1,173 posts)
1. That is the profile of legal gun owners back in March 2013
Mon Jan 5, 2015, 06:39 PM
Jan 2015

      What does the profile of illegal gun owners look like?

 

Scootaloo

(25,699 posts)
2. I presume you have an answer to your own question.
Mon Jan 5, 2015, 06:43 PM
Jan 2015

I would be interested in hearing that answer, as well as the methodology by which you found it.

NecklyTyler

(1,173 posts)
5. Nope, no answer
Mon Jan 5, 2015, 06:48 PM
Jan 2015

Even if a poll was taken, I don't thing criminals would spend a lot of time giving correct answers.

billh58

(6,635 posts)
3. Yeah, sorry
Mon Jan 5, 2015, 06:43 PM
Jan 2015

those numbers are soooo 2013. Just out of curiosity, which poll covers illegal gun owners, and how do they contact them?

billh58

(6,635 posts)
9. This may shed some light on your question:
Mon Jan 5, 2015, 06:57 PM
Jan 2015
http://smartgunlaws.org/straw-purchases-policy-summary/

"In June of 2000, ATF published a study of 1,530 firearms trafficking investigations conducted during the period July 1996 – December 1998. That study, Following the Gun: Enforcing Federal Laws Against Firearm Traffickers, found that straw purchasing was the most common channel of illegal gun trafficking, accounting for almost one-half (46%) of all investigations, and associated with nearly 26,000 illegally trafficked firearms.

Gun shows and flea markets are a “major venue for illegal trafficking” and thus have been the target of law enforcement trafficking and straw purchasing investigations. During ATF’s investigations of gun shows, the agency found that FFLs committed numerous federal crimes at shows, including facilitating straw purchases. Subsequent ATF investigations at gun shows from 2004 – 2006 uncovered “widespread” straw purchasing at shows, where guns were diverted to “convicted felons and local and international gangs.”

New York City officials recently conducted their own investigation at gun shows across the U.S. to test whether, among other things, FFLs would sell to someone who appeared to be a straw purchaser. New York’s investigation found that 16 out of 17 (or 94% of) FFLs approached by investigators willingly sold to an apparent straw purchaser."


Again, no real surprises here...

Fred Sanders

(23,946 posts)
10. 16 out of 17 straw purchasers at gun shows got their guns...criminals, psychopaths and the suicidal
Mon Jan 5, 2015, 06:59 PM
Jan 2015

please take note.

 

Scuba

(53,475 posts)
7. I'm a bit surprised to see that only 51% of gun owners identify Republican ....
Mon Jan 5, 2015, 06:53 PM
Jan 2015

... yet the Republican's claim that Democrats are intent on destroying the 2nd Amendment is allowed to survive in public discourse.

It also shows again how the Democratic Party has allowed the brand to be spoiled by the right's rhetoric.

Bjorn Against

(12,041 posts)
13. When you look at the breakdown of the numbers it becomes more significant
Mon Jan 5, 2015, 09:44 PM
Jan 2015

If you only see the number 51% it may appear to be a bare majority, but there must have been a lot of Republicans who chose not to answer the question because the numbers for them are well below 100% when added up.

A closer look at the numbers shows a hugely significant difference in gun ownership rates between Democrats and Republicans.

51% of Republicans said they owned a gun while only 27% said they did not.

Among Democrats 37% said they owned a gun while 61% said they did not.

Fred Sanders

(23,946 posts)
8. Non-Hispanic white men in America have been scared into the gun stores by the GOP and NRA
Mon Jan 5, 2015, 06:56 PM
Jan 2015

fear propganda, they are armed to the teeth now for the coming terror...stay tuned to Fox for what that terror might be, it keeps changing weekly, but it is always there to soothe the gun owners fears.

 

Hoyt

(54,770 posts)
12. For years, Gungeoneers have said those gun fancying demographics weren't provable. Now
Mon Jan 5, 2015, 07:23 PM
Jan 2015

Now, how will they spin it?

 

kioa

(295 posts)
14. 37% of gun owners are Democratic....
Mon Jan 5, 2015, 10:12 PM
Jan 2015

You know what happens when a political party alienates nearly 40% of their base?

They lose the Senate.
They lose seats in the House.
They are left in control of the fewest state legislatures than at any time in the last century and a half

And finally.......They learn their lesson.
Get used to irrelevancy.

billh58

(6,635 posts)
16. The assumption that ALL
Tue Jan 6, 2015, 12:06 PM
Jan 2015

Democratic gun owners are in lock-step with the Second Amendment absolutist crowd is prevalent among the very vocal "cold dead hands" gunner minority. Most Americans are focused on the economy, war, taxes, etc., while "gun rights" come in very low on the list of things to be concerned about. We lost control of the Senate because voter turn out is always low for mid-terms, and the Republicans did a better job at getting their people to the polls.

Of course, the right-wingers make a big issue out of the possibility that we mean old Democrats will confiscate their precious guns, because that places the fear of Liberals into the weak minds of Teabillies. Hence the lies, half-truths, and misinformation machine that was started (very successfully) by the NRA and people like Larry Pratt, and is being expanded upon by the right-wing gun lobby and those who fall for the ploy.

Although the NRA and Koch Brothers-funded gun lobby was unopposed for decades, the new wave of Gun Control organizations is making progress into reversing the damage of lax gun control laws and the enforcement of existing laws. The American public is growing very weary of threatening statements like "we came unarmed -- this time."

 

Electric Monk

(13,869 posts)
17. I was just about to block them from the Group, but noticed that they are PPRd (again, most likely)nt
Wed Jan 7, 2015, 04:06 PM
Jan 2015
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