LAWRENCE — A recent study says most Americans tend to overestimate how many people own guns, a finding that some experts say could have political ramifications nationwide.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that University of Kansas political scientists Don Haider-Markel and Mark Joslyn examined the results of a 2016 nationally representative survey of nearly 1,300 American adults. The researchers found that more than 75 percent of those who responded to the survey overestimated what percentage of Americans own guns.
The researchers say approximately 25 percent of Americans are gun owners, but most of the survey’s respondents believed that slightly over half of the country’s population owns guns.
Joslyn says the overestimation could cloud Americans’ expectations for the future. The survey found people expect gun ownership to increase, but history shows it’s been declining.
