Gun Control advocates like to claim that the public broadly supports their policies. They tend to use the same polling numbers for years, though, ignoring anything inconvenient until a new poll shows them popular again, but they will always make the claim.
But the truth is that while the ultimate goal for these groups is to end gun ownership in this country, their love of polls will bite them in the posterior.
Why?
Because, despite claims that the public wants all this gun control, the public also likes guns, and they like them a lot.
Research conducted by Responsive Management annually for the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports (CAHSS) found that, in 2025, 78 percent of adult residents in the United States believe learning self-defense skills with a firearm is completely acceptable. That figure is up one percent when compared to 2024’s findings.
Study results showed 74 percent approve of any form of recreational shooting. Broken down between genders, 85 percent of males approved of the pursuit and 63 percent of females. Those who were ages 35 to 54 were most comfortable with the shooting sports (77 percent), followed by the 55 and older (73 percent). Participants who were 18 to 34 years old were least likely to find it appropriate, but their rate declined only five points to 72 percent.
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Regardless of their personal opinions about the Second Amendment, “…83% agree that it is okay for others to go sport shooting,” according to the CAHSS summary of the recurring study’s results. The organization also noted, “The large majority of Americans (69%) say that most sport shooters know how to safely handle firearms and are careful…”
Interestingly, support for competitive shooting, such as at the Olympics, dropped. Then again, the drop was from 74 percent in 2024 to 71 percent in 2025, so while it's significant, it's not like the general public has turned away from Olympic shooting sports entirely.
Now, does this mean that every poll that anti-gunners present is bogus? Not entirely.
See, this particular study looked at the broad strokes. People support shooting by and large, but that doesn't mean that some people don't think we need some gun control laws, even if they think self-defense and recreational shooting are good things. It's a matter of degrees, and therein lies the problem.
For one thing, most gun control advocates say they don't want a total gun ban, but when pressed for where the line in the sand is beyond that, they tend to clam up. In other words, it looks like if one person somewhere can lawfully own a single-shot .22 rifle, they're good because there's no total gun ban.
Still, the media amplifies these people and their proposed solutions, never presses them on where the limit on restriction is for them, and the public largely accepts what it sees. They think that restricting AR-15s is good and will reduce crime, even though such weapons are rarely used in crimes. They think such restrictions will protect schools, even though the worst school shooting in modern American history was the Virginia Tech shooting, where the killer used a couple of handguns. They buy the narrative, even if they think guns are fine in a broader way.
But the threat of a total ban remains because we all know that's their endgame, and they'll be disappointed to find out that any supposed support they had will evaporate before they get there.
