The gun ownership rate among Republican women has increased significantly in recent years, new polling reveals.
According to Gallup’s annual gun ownership survey — which groups results in six-year clusters — 33% of GOP women owned guns between 2019 and 2024. That is a 14-point increase from 2007 to 2012, when 19% of Republican women owned firearms.
The poll, which sampled 6,425 adults from around the country, has a margin of error of about 1 percentage point.
The overall gun ownership rate, meanwhile, has held steady at about 30% because of decreases in ownership among several demographics.
For example, 29% of Democratic men owned firearms between 2019 and 2024, representing a 7-point decrease from 2007 to 2012. Similarly, 39% of independent men owned guns during the most recent survey period, marking a 5-point decline from 2007 to 2012.
Despite these trends, men are still far more likely to own guns than women — 43% versus 20%. Although, the gender gap has narrowed from 30 points in 2007 to 2012 to 23 points in 2019 to 2024.
The partisan gap, on the other hand, has grown.
In 2007 to 2012, there was a 16-point gap between the gun ownership rates of Republicans (38%) and Democrats (22%). Now, that gap stands at 28 points — with nearly half of Republicans, 47%, and just 19% of Democrats owning guns.
The poll also found large differences in gun ownership rates based on geography.
In 2019 to 2024, 51% of rural residents owned guns, while 20% of large city residents said the same. Similarly, during the most recent survey period, 40% of southern residents owned guns, while 19% of eastern residents said the same.
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