Poll: Guns Make The Home Safer Or More Dangerous?

Let’s take a poll: Does keeping a gun in your house make it a safer place or does it make it more dangerous?

Here are some stats for you from the recent Gallup poll:

In 2000, about 1 in three Americans believed that having a gun in the house made it a safer place. Today, that number has just about doubled to 63% of Americans believing having a gun in the house makes it a safer place. So in about 15 years, the tables have turned drastically. Analyst Justin McCarthy says,

“Americans own guns for a wide array of reasons, but the increase in the perceived safety value of owning them suggests that guns are taking on more of a protective role than they have in the past. Florida passed the nation’s first ‘Stand Your Ground’ law in 2005, followed by dozens of states that passed different versions of the law. In the decade since, Americans have become more likely to view guns as a means of self-protection.”

The number of people who believe guns in the home make it safer has steadily increased over the past 15 years. Similarly, the number of people who believe guns in the home make it a more dangerous place has decreased steadily.

Not surprisingly, it was reported that Republicans were more likely to say that guns improved safety in the home.  Democrats were the only political group to have a majority say guns made a home less safe.

Do these statistics surprise anyone?