Who owns guns in the US? The gender gap is closing for conservatives.
Here are the essentials Shelby Basham of Greenville, Kentucky, an expectant mother, needs to have when heading out on a road trip: her pre-natal vitamins, toothbrush, hairbrush and her M&P Shield pistol.
“It ranks in the, ‘Must have’ category,” Basham, 29, who's eight months pregnant and a conceal-and-carry gun owner, said about her firearm. “It’s that relevant to me.”
Basham isn't surprised that gun ownership among Republican women, such as herself, is surging.
According to a recent Gallup poll, one in three Republican women now own guns, compared to one in five a dozen years ago. Meanwhile, gun ownership among Democratic women remains relatively rare.
The sales increase seems to coincide with the partisan culture wars, Jeff Jones, a Gallup senior editor told Paste BN.
"If you're a Republican, you were getting a lot of messages about protecting gun rights," Jones said. "It was generally pretty common for Republican men to own guns, but now we're seeing more Republican women wanting to own guns and it might be a trend going forward."
More women opting to protect themselves
Overall, about 31% of U.S. adults say they own a gun, and 13% say there’s a gun in their household that belongs to somebody else, Gallup. Those figures are consistent with about a third of Americans who say they own a gun, according to Pew Research data, a statistic depicting the country's deep-rooted values of gun ownership.
Americans bought more guns overall during the pandemic, when crime briefly spiked. One in 20 American adults bought a gun for the first time between March 2020 and March 2022, according to a survey conducted by NORC (previously known as the National Opinion Research Center), a research organization based at the University of Chicago.
But sales declined nationwide in 2023, according to a report by SafeHome, a Connecticut-based security company. About 16.7 million firearms were sold in the U.S. last year, the report said, down 4% from 2022.
Gallup's Jones said while gun sales dropped overall, the rise of GOP women owning firearms in their poll was "eye-popping." Even though men, at 43%, are more than twice as likely than women to own a gun, the gender gap between them has dipped over the last five years from 30 points to 23.
In case of emergency
Besham's neighbor, Cindy Hendricks, 69, a lifelong Republican, has been a gun owner for about five years and isn't surprised more Republican women have begun packing heat. Whereas in "generations past," women would depend on a man with a firearm to protect them, Hendricks, whose husband has owned a gun for two decades, said she's seeing her peers choosing to protect themselves.
"I am not as comfortable with them yet, but I can definitely use one in case of an emergency," said Hendricks, noting her home is located in rural Muhlenberg County, where it would take a long time for the police to arrive. "I can't imagine living where we are without owning a gun."
In addition to protection, Hendricks said many women are choosing to own firearms for sport, including hunting and target practice. She knows a few women who are a part of local gun clubs in her county of 31,000 residents.
Despite being a registered gun owner, Hendricks said she doesn't carry a firearm on her and won't until she takes a concealed carry class. She plans to do it early next year.
"I absolutely believe that with gun ownership comes responsibility," Hendricks said. "Taking that class will make me an even more responsible gun owner."
Basham grew up around guns, because some family members are big hunters, but she credits her husband, Turner, who likes hunting for deer, elk, and pheasants, with helping her get more comfortable using them for protection. They often go target shooting together.
"I owe a lot to him in that aspect as he pushed me to become a better gun owner," she said. "Not only do I feel protected, I feel I can help protect others."
Party affects gun ownership
Political party is a strong predictor of gun ownership ‒ and getting stronger, Gallup data shows.
As recently as 2012, 38% of Republicans and 22% of Democrats owned guns, a 16% gap. Now, 47% of Republicans own guns, compared to 19% of Democrats, a 28% difference.
"Party is a more meaningful predictor in its own right than it used to be," Jones said.
Safeguarding the Second Amendment remains a key reason Republicans say they own guns. "It's a pretty big issue for them," Jones said. "There are certainly others, but that stands out as one they really care about."
Rural Americans own guns for safety and sport
About 51% of rural poll respondents are gun owners, like Basham and Hendricks, compared to 20% of those who live in urban areas.
"We asked people in the survey why they owned guns and far and away, they say for protection," Jones said. "We also have large numbers saying they own guns for sport, like hunting and target shooting."
Basham, an occupational therapist, agrees. "I think we’re never going to have enough regulations and laws to eliminate those with ill intent to carry firearms,' Basham said. "The best thing we can do is to make sure the people with good intentions have that access to protect themselves."
Hendricks said many rural households fully support the Second Amendment and they own guns for safety because of the distance to law enforcement. She said it would take nearly a half-hour for police to arrive at her property.
"And we have excellent law enforcement and first responders, and they take a lot of pride in what they do, but they are so far away from us," Hendricks said. "We've had people escape from nearby prisons and if they find their way down our road, I have no one to call to get to us quickly other than our neighbors. We don't have that quick availability to police because we are all so spread out."
Hendricks and her husband have more than a dozen firearms in their house, including pistols and hunting rifles and some family heirlooms passed down through the years. They have an accessible firearm in almost every room in their house.
"I can lay my hands on a firearm within seconds if I need to, God forbid," said Hendricks, adding that when her grandkids come to visit, those easy-to-get weapons are safely stored away.
Basham, who owns two firearms, including a revolver she keeps on her nightstand, shares a similar view. Basham said she felt comforted when she had her pistol by her side when she drove solo from Kentucky to New Mexico this fall to drop off her horses to a friend for the winter.
"I hope I never encounter a situation where I have to use the things I have practiced and studied," said Basham, who took conceal-and-carry classes eight years ago. "I hope I never have to do that in my lifetime."