That's the lowest rate of gun ownership in the CBS poll going back to 1978. The latest household gun ownership rate in the General Social Survey, in 2014, was 32 percent. Gun owners remain a potent political force in the U.S., due largely to the successful efforts of advocacy groups like the NRA. According to Gallup, gun ownership has fallen by about 10 percentage points since its peak in 1993. But the declining rates of gun ownership across three major national surveys suggest a different explanation: that most of the rise in gun purchases is driven by existing gun owners stocking up, rather than by people buying their first gun.

Source: Washington Post June 29, 2016 16:30 UTC