We surveyed 1,001 Veterans to get their opinions on gun control. In particular, we asked for input on controversial debate topics like age limits, background checks, arming educators, and more.
Gun violence is now the leading cause of death among young people in the U.S. and a universal presence in the news cycle. VeteranLife sought to find out what our nation’s most qualified citizens have to say about the topic, those who’ve spent their careers training and wielding various firearms – our Veterans.
The respondents also provided insight into their own personal firearm cultures, habits, and preferences. We break down the results below.
Here are the Key Findings:
- 75.3% of Veterans Think Gun Violence is a Big Problem in America
- 91.3% of Veterans Support Background Checks on Gun Purchasers in All 50 States
- 64% of Veterans Believe the Age to Purchase a Firearm Should be Raised to 21 Nationwide
- 49.1% of Veterans Believe That Both Mental Health and Gun Legislation Contribute to Firearm Incidents
- 63% of Veterans Believe Every State Should Require a License to Own a Firearm
- 61.9% of Veterans Support Mandatory Waiting Periods
- 57.5% of Veterans Think All States Should Implement “Red Flag Laws”
- 56.6% of Veterans Would Not Participate in a Gun Buyback Program
- 36% of Veterans Don’t Own Any Firearms At All
- 58.8% of Veterans Surveyed Own Pistols, 37.2% Own Shotguns, 30.5% Own Hunting Rifles, and 22.5% Own “Assault”-Style Rifles
- 59.2% of Veterans Primarily Own a Gun for Self-Defense
- 66.4% of Veterans Had Prior Experience With Firearms Before Joining the Military
- 50% of Veterans Oppose Arming Educators
The full results and how we obtained them are below.
75.3% of Veterans Think Gun Violence is a Big Problem in America
According to available data, this is vastly higher than the general population. A Quinnipiac University study from 2021 found that just 41% of Americans overall view gun violence as a problem, and just 4% more view it as a “crisis.” This would mean that Veterans are 80% more likely to view gun violence in America as a problem than the general public. 15.4% of Veterans say that gun violence isn’t a big problem in America, and 9.3% responded that it might be.
91.3% of Veterans Support Background Checks
This is slightly higher than the general population. According to Quinnipiac, 89% of Americans support background checks. Only 4.5% of Veteran respondents answered in the negative, and 4.2% were unsure. This is roughly in line with the data from other randomized polls of the overall population, but it shows that our military Veterans are more likely to agree with background checks than the average American, if only slightly.
64% of Veterans Support Raising the Legal Age to Purchase a Gun to 21
As of now, just six states have raised the legal age to buy firearms to 21. A 2019 study from Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions uncovered that 73% of respondents were in favor of increasing the purchase age of semi-automatic rifles to 21. They found that 61% of gun owners were also in favor. The results show that Veterans are a few points more in favor than the average gun owner but less in favor than the general population.
49.1% of Veterans Believe Gun Violence is Both a Gun Control and Mental Health Problem
A 2015 study published in Annals of Epistemology found that just 4% of gun violence had an underlying link to mental illness. Yet, in the public discourse and mainly among opponents of stricter gun control laws, mental health is often discussed as a higher priority than gun control in cases of mass shootings in America. Veterans are split on this issue, with roughly half reporting a belief that both mental health and gun control are to blame. 33.1% of Veterans believe that mental health is a larger factor than gun control, however. This aligns with but remains less than the general population, as Quinnipiac polls have found that 40% of Americans believe that mental health is a primary factor in gun violence.
63% of Veterans Say That Gun Owners Should Be Licensed
A handful of states already have laws in place that require licensing. Some results show an improvement in shootings and suicide numbers after licensing mandates take effect. According to the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence, the state of Connecticut saw a 28% reduction in gun violence after passing its licensure law. While the majority is in favor, 29.7% of Veterans are against the idea, and 7.3% are unsure if owners should be licensed.
61.9% of Veterans Support Mandatory Waiting Periods
The majority of Veterans support mandatory waiting periods for gun purchases. Gallup has the public opinion at 77% in favor. 22.2% of Veterans are opposed to a waiting period. This echoes the general population at 23%. Waiting periods are said to give sellers and authorities more time to conduct thorough background checks.
57.5% of Veterans Think All States Should Implement “Red Flag Laws”
This is down from 74% of the general public, as reported by Quinnipiac. Though, in our polling, we found a very significant “maybe” vote among Veterans at 19.2%. This is also the first stat that fundamentally represents the ability of authorities to take firearms from citizens, and though a majority of Veterans support this one, they did not respond as positively in this case as they did to what are often referred to as common-sense gun control measures.
56.6% of Veterans Would Not Participate in a Gun Buyback Program
Another stat that revolves around susceptibility to firearm reclamation, a majority of Veterans say they wouldn’t participate in a buyback program. Just a quarter of respondents said they would. This is significantly lower than data available on other populations, as this poll from the Hill demonstrates. Responses from their poll showed that 76% of voters backed at least a voluntary buyback program.
36% of Veterans Don’t Own Any Firearms At All
While polling Veterans to discover which type of firearms the majority own, we included the option to choose none. We felt this statistic was surprising, given that the majority of Veterans are trained on the use of firearms and are generally looked at from the outside as some of the most gun-friendly citizens in America.
Most Veteran-Owned Guns are Pistols, Followed by Shotguns, and then Rifles
The full breakdown of Veteran-owned guns begins with pistols at 58.8%. Behind that comes shotguns, and then rifles. The percentage of Veteran-owned firearms that are “assault”-style rifles is 22.5%. This falls in line neatly with the results of the reported reasons for owning firearms that we found from our poll.
59.2% of Veterans Primarily Own a Gun for Self-Defense
The majority of Veterans report self-defense or home security as the reason they own a firearm. This tracks with the previous data point that pistols are the most common type of firearm owned by Veterans. Hunting received the second-highest amount of votes at 27.3%. The next category, “enthusiast,” received 22.1%, followed by “collector” at 11.7%, and Veterans with a professional reason came in at 5.9%.
66.4% of Veterans Had Experience With Firearms Before Joining the Military
The vast majority of Veterans report exposure to firearms prior to their military career. 32.7% say they didn’t have experience with guns before joining. A 2020 Gallup Poll found that close to half of U.S. adults live in a household where guns are present, so it stands to reason that more Veterans grow up in households where someone owns a firearm.
50% of Veterans Oppose Arming Educators
Various solutions to gun violence, including mass shootings in public places like schools, have thought leaders and political pundits scrambling for solutions. One such solution is the hotly debated idea to arm America’s educators. A cool half of Veterans oppose the idea, with 48% of combat Veterans also against the idea. Currently, 95% of educators believe arming teachers is a bad idea. A Pew Research Poll from 2021 found that 43% of U.S. adults were in favor of allowing personnel to carry guns in schools.
Final Thoughts
Opinions on gun control and gun violence in the U.S. are often divided by political party and gun owner status. At VeteranLife, we decided that adding our Veterans’ voices to the conversation would make a productive contribution to the overall narrative. In doing so, we sought to differentiate between the U.S. population in general and those who have a closer relationship and understanding of firearms and the repercussions of using them – the nation’s Veterans. We’d like to thank our Veteran community for providing us with the data points from our poll. If you’d like to read about how we conducted the poll and organized the results, you can find that in our methodology.
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