According to a new poll, millennials—those born in the 1980s and ’90s—are less likely to support tougher gun laws than those over 30. And while scoffers and skeptics may try to shrug off this finding as merely the opinion of the NRA, gun control advocates can’t discount this study so easily. The information’s sources? A Gallup poll and NBC News.
While the facts show millennials are more likely to support gun rights than those older than them, that doesn’t mean America’s ongoing culture war is over and done with. Those polled between the ages of 18 and 29 are still 50/50 in their beliefs on gun rights, but those between the ages of 30 and 49 are 57 percent in favor of stricter gun control, while those ages 50 to 64 are 56 percent in favor of gun control. Those 65 and older were 55 percent in favor of gun control.
Another poll, this one conducted by ABC News and Refinery 29, found that 11 percent of a 566-woman survey said protecting gun rights was the most important issue in the upcoming presidential election outside of major topics like terrorism, the economy, immigration, and healthcare—the same percentage that viewed equal pay and access to abortion as the most important issues.
“We’re talking about a fundamental right, we’re talking about the Second Amendment, which is a guaranteed right to self-defense,” Ryan Bradley, 24, told NBC News. Bradley works as a grassroots field representative for the NRA. His millennial stance on the gun rights/gun control debate? Base it on facts, not emotions.
“Feelings don’t belong,” Bradley said. “I don’t think that somebody should be using derogatory language to somebody, but they have the First Amendment right to do so, and nobody’s talking about taking that First Amendment right away. So I think that gun control supporters need to bring something more to the table than just feelings.”
Facts are much less exciting and polarizing than feelings, however, so its unlikely those sentiments will be adopted by gun control advocates. Still, the fact that an entire generation hasn’t already been lost means the Second Amendment might have a bright future after all.