It may be that the NRA has an inordinate amount of influence in American politics, given most voters favor gun control and Congress is yet to pass it.
Or it may be, as a new study suggests, that gun owners are more politically engaged than Americans who don’t own guns.
A study released Sunday by political scientists at the University of Kansas, found significantly more gun owners were politically active and voted in presidential elections than those who did not own guns over the last 40 years - and the gap is growing.
The reason: today’s gun owner is more likely than a gun owner in the 1970s to think of political engagement as an extension of Second Amendment rights, according to the study.
“This modern gun owner identity includes a conception of gun owners as people who take direct action to ensure their beliefs match behavior,” write study authors Donald Haider-Markel, Mark Joslyn, and Abigail Vegter. “Thus, the gun-owner’s self-mobilization makes her more likely to participate in all forms of politics.”
The leader of Connecticut’s largest gun rights group agrees.
“There is always the possibility for a tyrannical government to take power as we have seen across the world and throughout history,” said Scott Wilson, president of the 31,000-member Connecticut Citizens Defense League. “So to maintain our constitutional republic, every single person who believes in liberty and the Constitution should actively take a role and participate in the legislative process.”
The nation’s
