'Surprising': Gun ownership on the rise among liberals according to a new report

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that much and much liberals are buying guns, calling it a "surprising" inclination among a radical of voters that typically enactment restrictions.

For a portion published Thursday, the outlet looked astatine caller gun ownership information and spoke to experts and respective Democratic weapon owners to recognize what’s down this trend.

"American weapon civilization has agelong been dominated by conservative, White men. Now, successful a marked change, a burgeoning fig of liberals are buying firearms, according to surveys and fast-growing weapon groups drafting minorities and progressives," The Wall Street Journal reported.

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A caller Wall Street Journal study recovered that Democratic voters are the "most surprising" caller radical of weapon owners successful America. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The portion opened with the illustration of lifelong Democrat and weapon regularisation protagonist Michael Ciemnoczolowski, who precocious bought his archetypal firearm.

Ciemnoczolowski, a liquor store clerk successful Iowa City, Iowa told the diary that helium bought the limb due to the fact that he’s disquieted astir "street crime, equipped right-wing extremists" and voiced his fearfulness of U.S. authorities getting worse.

"Domestic authorities person grown progressively acrimonious," helium told the media outlet. 

The Journal noted that Democrats person historically been weapon owners, but started trending distant from having firearms successful the "early 90s" erstwhile "increasingly divisive governmental battles implicit the relation of firearms successful American nine led the Democratic Party to go an advocator for weapon regulation. Republicans became the enactment of weapon rights."

Now they are "rediscovering guns," the portion noted, citing statistic showing that Democratic weapon ownership is connected the emergence from grounds lows.

"Twenty-nine percent of Democrats oregon those leaning Democrat said they had a weapon astatine location successful 2022, up from a four-decade debased of 22% successful 2010," the study said, citing a survey conducted by the University of Chicago’s NORC probe group. 

According to different acceptable of numbers from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, of each the Democratic voters who bought guns aft 2020, "more than fractional were first-time owners," the portion stated.

Lewis and Clark College anthropology prof Jennifer Hubbert told the Journal, "It’s a radical of radical who 5 years agone would ne'er person considered buying a gun." 

The emergence successful weapon ownership among liberals whitethorn beryllium wherefore Democratic statesmanlike campaigner Vice President Kamala Harris present bills herself arsenic a weapon owner, wherever she utilized to speech astir supporting mandatory weapon buyback programs successful 2019. 

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Vice President Kamala Harris joked astir being a weapon proprietor during a run lawsuit with Oprah Winfrey connected Thursday night. (YouTube screenshot)

During the latest statesmanlike debate, she touted however herself and her moving mate Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., are some weapon owners.

And successful a run lawsuit with Oprah Winfrey Thursday, Harris told the media mogul, "If idiosyncratic breaks into my house, they're getting shot." 

The portion besides described however this swath of wide weapon owners is "much much diverse" than it was successful the 90s, stating, "Four decades ago, Democratic weapon owners were typically White men, including car oregon alloy national workers who grew up hunting."

"Gun dealers saw the largest summation successful Black Americans buying guns compared with immoderate different radical radical successful 2023, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, an manufacture group," the study stated, noting that women comprised fractional of caller wide weapon owners betwixt 2019 and 2021. 

The outlet spoke to pro-gun wide Tom Nguyen, a Los Angeles nonmigratory who founded a pro-gun radical for liberals connected Facebook successful 2020 due to the fact that galore of them were disquieted astir that year’s unrest regarding the pandemic and statesmanlike election. 

"People were hungering for a abstraction that was not this hyperaggressive, male-dominated, toxic weapon world," Nguyen said, adding that helium instructs 300 radical a twelvemonth connected however to grip firearms. 

Alejandra Mendez, a cheery pistillate who takes Nguyen’s class, told the Journal she gets disapproval from her chap liberals for owning 4 firearms. "I don’t recognize that rhetoric of ‘protect my right’ and not support the rights of different people," she said, arguing that she has the close to ain guns, conscionable similar they person the close to escaped speech.

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The Journal besides got a punctuation from erstwhile President Jimmy Carter’s grandson, Jason Carter, a erstwhile Georgia authorities legislator and huntsman who spoke astatine the Democratic National Convention past period astir uncovering mediate crushed successful America connected the weapon issue.

He told the Journal, "There are much radical saying, ‘Let’s look for mediate ground. Let’s enactment to respect Second Amendment rights, but let’s fig retired ways to marque america safer."