Firearms!
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
How Trump's Assassination Attempt at the Golf Course Happened?
Sunday, September 8, 2024
Key Facts About Americans And Guns
Key facts about Americans and guns
Guns are deeply ingrained in American society and the nation’s political debates.
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms, and about a third of U.S. adults say they personally own a gun. At the same time, in response to concerns such as rising gun death rates and mass shootings, the U.S. surgeon general has taken the unprecedented step of declaring gun violence a public health crisis.
Here are some key findings about Americans’ views of gun ownership, gun policy and other subjects, drawn from Pew Research Center surveys.
How we did this
Measuring gun ownership
About four-in-ten U.S. adults say they live in a household with a gun, including 32% who say they personally own one, according to a Center survey conducted in June 2023. These numbers are virtually unchanged since the last time we asked this question in 2021.
There are differences in gun ownership rates by political affiliation, gender, community type and other factors.
- Party: 45% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents say they personally own a gun, compared with 20% of Democrats and Democratic leaners.
- Gender: 40% of men say they own a gun, versus 25% of women.
- Community type: 47% of adults living in rural areas report owning a firearm, as do smaller shares of those who live in suburbs (30%) or urban areas (20%).
- Race and ethnicity: 38% of White Americans own a gun, compared with smaller shares of Black (24%), Hispanic (20%) and Asian (10%) Americans.
Personal protection tops the list of reasons gun owners give for having a firearm. About seven-in-ten gun owners (72%) say protection is a major reason they own a gun. Considerably smaller shares say that a major reason they own a gun is for hunting (32%), for sport shooting (30%), as part of a gun collection (15%) or for their job (7%).
Americans’ reasons behind gun ownership have changed only modestly since we fielded a separate survey about these topics in spring 2017. At that time, 67% of gun owners cited protection as a major reason they had a firearm.
Gun owners tend to have much more positive feelings about having a gun in the house than nonowners who live with them do. For instance, 71% of gun owners say they enjoy owning a gun – but just 31% of nonowners living in a household with a gun say they enjoy having one in the home. And while 81% of gun owners say owning a gun makes them feel safer, a narrower majority of nonowners in gun households (57%) say the same. Nonowners are also more likely than owners to worry about having a gun at home (27% vs. 12%).
Feelings about gun ownership also differ by political affiliation, even among those who personally own a firearm. Republican gun owners are more likely than Democratic owners to say owning one gives them feelings of safety and enjoyment, while Democratic owners are more likely to say they worry about having a gun in the home.
Non-gun owners are split on whether they see themselves owning a firearm in the future. About half of Americans who don’t own a gun (52%) say they could never see themselves owning one, while nearly as many (47%) could imagine themselves as gun owners in the future.
Among those who currently do not own a gun, attitudes about owning one in the future differ by party and other factors.
- Party: 61% of Republicans who don’t own a gun say they could see themselves owning one in the future, compared with 40% of Democrats.
- Gender: 56% of men who don’t own a gun say they could see themselves owning one someday; 40% of women nonowners say the same.
- Race and ethnicity: 56% of Black nonowners say they could see themselves owning a gun one day, compared with smaller shares of White (48%), Hispanic (40%) and Asian (38%) nonowners.
A majority of Americans (61%) say it is too easy to legally obtain a gun in this country, according to the June 2023 survey. Far fewer (9%) say it is too hard, while another 30% say it’s about right.
Non-gun owners are nearly twice as likely as gun owners to say it is too easy to legally obtain a gun (73% vs. 38%). Gun owners, in turn, are more than twice as likely as nonowners to say the ease of obtaining a gun is about right (48% vs. 20%).
There are differences by party and community type on this question, too. While 86% of Democrats say it is too easy to obtain a gun legally, far fewer Republicans (34%) say the same. Most urban (72%) and suburban (63%) residents say it’s too easy to legally obtain a gun, but rural residents are more divided: 47% say it is too easy, 41% say it is about right and 11% say it is too hard.
About six-in-ten U.S. adults (58%) favor stricter gun laws. Another 26% say that U.S. gun laws are about right, while 15% favor less strict gun laws.
There is broad partisan agreement on some gun policy proposals, but most are politically divisive. Majorities of U.S. adults in both partisan coalitions somewhat or strongly favor two policies that would restrict gun access: preventing those with mental illnesses from purchasing guns (88% of Republicans and 89% of Democrats support this) and increasing the minimum age for buying guns to 21 years old (69% of Republicans, 90% of Democrats). Majorities in both parties also oppose allowing people to carry concealed firearms without a permit (60% of Republicans and 91% of Democrats oppose this).
Republicans and Democrats differ on several other proposals. While 85% of Democrats favor banning both assault-style weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, majorities of Republicans oppose these proposals (57% and 54%, respectively).
Most Republicans, on the other hand, support allowing teachers and school officials to carry guns in K-12 schools (74%) and allowing people to carry concealed guns in more places (71%). These proposals are supported by just 27% and 19% of Democrats, respectively.
The public remains closely divided over whether it’s more important to protect gun rights or control gun ownership, according to an April 2024 survey. Overall, 51% of U.S. adults say it’s more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns, while a similar share (48%) say controlling gun ownership is more important.
Views have shifted slightly since 2022, when we last asked this question. That year, 47% of adults prioritized protecting Americans’ rights to own guns, while 52% said controlling gun ownership was more important.
Views on this topic differ sharply by party. In the most recent survey, 83% of Republicans say protecting gun rights is more important, while 79% of Democrats prioritize controlling gun ownership.
Americans are slightly more likely to say gun ownership does more to increase safety than to decrease it. Around half of Americans (52%) say gun ownership does more to increase safety by allowing law-abiding citizens to protect themselves, while a slightly smaller share (47%) say gun ownership does more to reduce safety by giving too many people access to firearms and increasing misuse. Views were evenly divided (49% vs. 49%) when we last asked in 2023.
Republicans and Democrats differ widely on this question: 81% of Republicans say gun ownership does more to increase safety, while 74% of Democrats say it does more to reduce safety.
Rural and urban Americans also have starkly different views. Among adults who live in rural areas, 64% say gun ownership increases safety, while among those in urban areas, 57% say it reduces safety. Those living in the suburbs are about evenly split in their views.
More than half of U.S. adults say an increase in the number of guns in the country is bad for society, according to the April 2024 survey. Some 54% say, generally, this is very or somewhat bad for society. Another 21% say it is very or somewhat good for society, and a quarter say it is neither good nor bad for society.
About half of Americans (49%) see gun violence as a major problem, according to a May 2024 survey. This is down from 60% in June 2023, but roughly on par with views in previous years. In the more recent survey, 27% say gun violence is a moderately big problem, and about a quarter say it is either a small problem (19%) or not a problem at all (4%).
A majority of public K-12 teachers (59%) say they are at least somewhat worried about the possibility of a shooting ever happening at their school, including 18% who are very or extremely worried, according to a fall 2023 Center survey of teachers. A smaller share of teachers (39%) say they are not too or not at all worried about a shooting occurring at their school.
School shootings are a concern for K-12 parents as well: 32% say they are very or extremely worried about a shooting ever happening at their children’s school, while 37% are somewhat worried, according to a fall 2022 Center survey of parents with at least one child younger than 18 who is not homeschooled. Another 31% of K-12 parents say they are not too or not at all worried about this.
Note: This is an update of a post originally published on Jan. 5, 2016.
Friday, September 6, 2024
Thursday, September 5, 2024
Georgia School Shooter Background
Why was the Georgia "School Shooter" not apprehended for his threats?
Georgia high school shooting suspect referenced Parkland massacre in writings found in his bedroom, source says
"A stain that will never go away": Gun violence prevention activist responds to Georgia shooting
03:59
- Source:
CNN
Winder, Georgia
CNN
—
Authorities searching the home of the 14-year-old accused of killing four people at a Georgia high school this week found documents that they believe he wrote referencing past school shootings, a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CNN.
The source said that the writings were discovered in the bedroom of suspect Colt Gray, and included references to the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
Live updates: The latest on the Georgia high school shooting
The discovery, which could shed more light on a motive for the shooting, comes amid an emerging portrait of Gray’s tumultuous family life in the years leading up to the deadly attack, revealed in a CNN review of court and law enforcement records, social media posts, and an interview with his grandfather.
As that portrait has emerged, so have details about the investigation and authorities’ pursuit of those they allege bear responsibility in the shooting. Gray told investigators, “I did it” while being questioned, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith told CNN on Thursday.
And while Gray faces four counts of felony murder, Gray’s father, Colin, also has been arrested in connection with the shooting, accused of “knowingly allowing his son … to possess a weapon,” Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said Thursday. Colin Gray was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter; two counts of second degree murder; and eight counts of cruelty to children, the GBI said.
As for Colt Gray’s family situation: His parents went through a bitter separation and custody dispute in recent years. They called law enforcement on each other, the family was evicted from at least one home, and Gray’s mother was arrested on suspicion of keying her husband’s car and drug possession, law enforcement records show.
At the same time, Gray’s mother and maternal grandfather have accused Gray’s father of being verbally abusive toward his family for years.
“He was just a good kid, but he lived in an environment that was hostile,” Charles Polhamus said of Colt Gray, his grandson, in an interview with CNN. “His dad beat up on him, I mean, I’m not talking about physical, but screaming and hollering, and he did the same thing to my daughter.”
The grandfather said he had never seen Colt Gray show any kind of anger problems, but that the turbulent family life had affected the teenager.
Now, investigators seeking to understand the suspect’s motive are looking into his family’s previous contacts with the state’s child protective services agency, the GBI director said Wednesday.
The suspect’s father told investigators this week he had purchased the gun used in the killings as a holiday present for his son in December 2023, according to two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation. One source told CNN the AR-15-style rifle was purchased at a local gun store as a Christmas present. The other source described the gift as a holiday present.
Attempts to reach both of the suspect’s parents for comment on Wednesday and Thursday were unsuccessful. CNN was working to determine whether Colin Gray has legal representation.
Colt Gray’s parents’ relationship started out with promise. In July 2011, shortly after he was born, his parents bought a small farm in Barrow County, Georgia, outside of the college town of Athens. They planned to “create a non-profit, therapeutic riding school for local, under-privileged children,” his mother, Marcee Gray, who worked in industrial engineering, later wrote in a LinkedIn post.
But those plans were derailed in part because her husband, Colin Gray, had at least three “major” back surgeries, she wrote. The couple, who had three children, later sold the farm in 2019, according to property records.
After they moved, the family faced lawsuits from multiple landlords, and were evicted from one home by a county sheriff’s deputy in July 2022 for failing to pay rent, according to court records. As part of the eviction, sheriff’s records show, deputies collected three firearms, including an AR-15, and at least one hunting bow, and kept them for safekeeping. The weapons were later “released to owner,” the documents say.
Later that year, Marcee Gray wrote on social media that she had left her husband.
“Finally separated from my abusive husband of almost 14yrs,” she wrote in one LinkedIn comment on a post from December 2022. “Hardest shit I’ve ever done but we’re in good hands.”
“I packed myself and my babies up and relocated to my hometown in south GA,” Gray added in another post in May 2023. “We are all good and my kids are thriving.”
School shooting threat investigated
The same month, however, law enforcement agents were investigating 13-year-old Colt Gray in connection with a school shooting threat. Investigators with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office interviewed Colt and his father about a threat on the online chat platform Discord to commit a school shooting, documents obtained through a public records request show.
Colt Gray denied making the threat, an investigation report said. A Discord spokesperson told CNN on Wednesday that the platform removed an account “believed to be associated with” Gray in May 2023 for violating Discord’s policy against extremism.
Colin Gray told investigators he had hunting rifles in the house, and that “Colt is allowed to use them when supervised but does not have unfettered access to them,” the report said. The case was later cleared because the tip could not be substantiated.
Transcripts from the interview and a subsequent phone call show that Colin Gray said his son was “getting picked on at school,” with other students “pinching him and touching him… just ridiculed him day after day after day.” He also that that he was “trying to teach him about firearms and safety and how to do it all and get him… interested in the outdoors,” in part to get him away from video games.
“He knows the seriousness of weapons and what they can do and how to use them and not use them,” Colin Gray said.
In his interview, Colin Gray told investigators that he had separated from his wife, who took their two younger children with her. The suspect’s father said that Colt – the oldest of three siblings – had “had some problems” at a middle school in Jackson County but had since moved to another school and “it has gotten a lot better,” one of the investigators wrote.
Gray was only enrolled in the Jackson County school district between February and August 2022, said Edward Hooper, the spokesperson for the district. Jackson County is next to Barrow County, where Colt Gray is accused of killing two fellow students and two teachers at Apalachee High School.
In October 2023, Barrow County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a wellness check on the Gray family after Marcee Gray reported that she hadn’t heard from her husband or their children in two weeks. Colin Gray, who was at their residence, said all of their children were with him, a sheriff’s deputy wrote in a report.
Colin Gray gave the deputy a paper from the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services that showed “a safety plan was put in place for him to have the children with him” and Marcee Gray “could not see them without supervision,” the deputy wrote.
A spokesperson from the Georgia Department of Human Services said Thursday she could not comment on the case due to confidentiality laws. But Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said at a press conference Wednesday that the bureau was aware that the division had previously had “some previous contacts” with the Gray family, and “we are pursuing that avenue as well too to see if that has any connection with today’s incident.”
In November 2023, Colin Gray called law enforcement and accused his wife of keying a truck he drove for his work at a construction company, writing “abuse” and “liar” on it, according to a sheriff’s report.
Two days later, police arrested Marcee Gray at a Walmart in Winder due to an active warrant from another county. Police found methamphetamine, fentanyl, pain pills, and a glass pipe in her car, and she and another man who was in the vehicle were arrested, another sheriff’s report said.
After being arrested, Marcee Gray admitted keying her husband’s truck, saying she “lost it” after he refused to let her see her kids, the report said.
Marcee Gray pleaded guilty the following month to criminal damage to property, “criminal trespass - family violence,” and use of a license plate to conceal identity, and was sentenced to a total of five months’ probation after serving more than a month in custody. As part of her guilty plea, she was barred from contacting her husband except through a third party for divorce negotiations and custody discussions.
A friend of Marcee Gray, who asked not to be named for privacy, told CNN that the legal trouble she faced was “not the Marcee we know,” calling her a “sweet, caring, and smart woman” who had changed.
“Something happened in that relationship that went wrong,” the friend said.
According to Polhamus, Marcee Gray’s father, she lost custody of her children after failing a drug test, moved back in with her parents in south Georgia and is going through rehab.
Polhamus said he had never thought his grandson would be capable of such a deadly attack.
“I understand that Colt chose to do what he did, and I understand he has to pay for it,” he said. “But I’m telling you, the environment that he lived in… you put somebody in a situation like that for 10 or 11 years, guess what’s gonna happen? Nothing good.”
Discord account linked to suspect shared plans for mass shooting
The Discord account that the FBI had linked to Colt Gray last year referenced plans for a future mass shooting and shared screenshots of firearms, according to documents obtained by CNN.
“im committing a mass shooting and im waiting a good 2-3 years,” stated the account user, according to screenshots included in an FBI incident report from May 2023 obtained by CNN. “I cant kill myself yet, cause I’m not contributing anything to culture I need to go out knowing I did.”
The account referenced Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter, and in separate posts shared a desire to target an elementary school and expressed frustration with the acceptance of transgender people.
Above a photograph of two firearms, the account posted, “I’m ready.”
The FBI tip was shared with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, which closed the investigation after finding that “the user behind the Discord account that made the threat cannot be substantiated.”
A Discord spokesperson told CNN on Wednesday the platform removed an account “believed to be associated with” Gray in May 2023 for violating Discord’s policy against extremism.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
CNN’s Isabelle Chapman and Amanda Jackson contributed reporting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Gun Cleaning Supplies
2'' Gun Cleaning Patches and 6'' Gun Cleaning Swabs
-
Voter-approved Oregon gun control law violates the state constitution, judge rules ...
-
The debate for gun control is never-ending. Those in favor of it feel that taking away guns will take away gun violence. Those that argue a...
Support The NRA!
