Weeks before the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, three-fourths of a sample of members attending the National Rifle Association annual meeting said they would be stocking up on ammunition ahead of this fall’s presidential election.
The vast majority of NRA members surveyed (84%) also said they do not believe Joe Biden was the legitimate winner of the 2020 election, a well-documented lie spread by Trump. And 75% of those surveyed said they anticipate some level of civil unrest surrounding the 2024 presidential election.
Nearly a third predicted there will be some kind of American civil war in which armed citizens fight each other in the next decade.
AmmunitionToGo.com conducted the face-to-face survey of attendees at the NRA annual meeting in Dallas May 17 through May 19. Surveyors solicited NRA members to take the survey on the floor of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center during the annual event. The survey may not be indicative of all NRA members nationwide but is said to be accurate within a 3% margin of error in representing the views of those at the meeting.
The survey was taken two months before a bullet grazed Trump’s right ear while he was speaking at an outdoor rally in Pennsylvania July 13.
More than a third (39%) of NRA members said they believe the United States will experience some kind of revolution in which armed citizens have to arm themselves against a tyrannical government in the next decade. Younger NRA members were more likely to hold this belief than older members.
The vast majority of NRA members (78%) said they intend to vote a straight Republican ticket in the 2024 general election. Only 17% expect to vote a mixed party ticket and 5% said they don’t plan to vote at all.
Gun rights are important to this group but come in second to concerns about the border and immigration — key planks in Trump’s anti-immigrant platform.
Almost all the NRA members surveyed (97%) believe the Second Amendment was intended as a defensive mechanism against a tyrannical government.
This is a point of contention among those who study American history. The Founders were, indeed, responding to the recent threat of a tyrannical king. Some historians, however, see the Second Amendment as preventing the need for a professional standing army. According to this view, the amendment was not intended to grant a right for private individuals to keep weapons for self-defense.
NRA members are split on what most threatens the Second Amendment today. The most-frequently cited threat is creation of a gun owner database. Other perceived threats are red flag laws and a renewed assault weapons ban.
As one unique sign of the NRA perspective, 84% said politicians who oppose their interpretation of the Second Amendment should forfeit taxpayer-funded armed security.
A bare majority (55%) of NRA members said a safety course of some kind should be a required for gun ownership. And only 45% said a mental health screening should be necessary prior to purchase.
In other findings:
- 22% of NRA members believe a person who has undergone gender reassignment surgery should have their firearms taken from them.
- 95% of NRA members don’t believe illegal immigrants should be allowed to legally own guns.
- 76% do not support a ban on bump stocks.
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