Myth
“The NRA speaks for all gun owners.”
Fact
The NRA’s positions on gun safety do not represent the majority of gun owners who—in countless public opinion polls—support common sense gun safety measures, such as background checks on all gun sales and red flag laws. As one example, a recent survey by Everytown, Giffords, and Global Strategy Group showed that two-thirds of gun owners favor requiring background checks on all gun sales.1“Everytown, Giffords Unveil New Polling Showing that Voters Want Action on Gun Safety,” January 27, 2021, https://www.everytown.org/press/everytown-giffords-unveil-new-polling-showing-that-voters-want-action-on-gun-safety-in-first-100-days/. And even if you believe what the NRA says about its membership at around 4.89 million members,2Stephen Gutowski, “The NRA’s Membership Problem,” The Reload, April 30, 2021, https://thereload.com/analysis-the-nras-membership-problem/ (noting “Eight years later and the membership has not just stagnated but shrunk. While the Census shows the population grew by about 3.8 percent over that period, the NRA membership has apparently shrunk by about 2.2 percent”). that’s less than 7% of gun owners in America.3The calculation is based on an article that estimates 72 million people in America own guns. See Lisa Dunn, “How Many People in the U.S. Own Guns?,” WAMU, September 18, 2020, https://wamu.org/story/20/09/18/how-many-people-in-the-u-s-own-guns/. The truth is that the NRA’s opposition to common sense gun laws represents a radical position, even among gun owners.