What Do Mormons Think About Gun Control?
Some numbers behind the news
With the recent Charlie Kirk assassination being very close to home for many Mormons/Latter-day Saints, I thought it would be relevant to look at different data around Mormons, gun control opinions, gun ownership, etc.
The really interesting data will be available next April-ish when the CES releases its 2025 wave hopefully with gun control questions. Then, we can see if there is any movement on gun control measures since the recent assassination hits close to home literally for many Latter-day Saints or Mormons. Today, we will look at where things are at as of 2024 and how things have changed the last 10 years.
We’ll look at these questions..
Are Mormons more likely to own guns?
What are the levels of Mormon support across various initiatives around gun control? Has it changed over time?
How do Mormons compare to national trends and political party trends?
Is there support for the recently passed bill “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (2022)?”
So let’s dive in.
Are Mormons more likely to own a gun?
The answer is yes. Mormons are more likely to own a gun compared to the average American household. About half of Mormons live in a household with someone who owns a gun or own a gun themselves. This is about the same rate that Republicans own guns or live with gun owners.
What are the levels of Mormon support across various initiatives around gun control? Has it changed over time?
Mormon N-size for this chart is 5385.
Our first issue is whether we should have criminal background checks when someone buys a gun. Let me point out a few things in this chart…
There is a clear bump in 2017! This is likely due to the terrible 2017 Las Vegas shooting where 1000 rounds were fired killing 60 people and injuring 867. Mormons seem affected by this event with support jumping up ~10 points between 2016 and 2017.
Over time, more and more people support having background checks where now even 9 in 10 republicans support it. This is a widely supported practice!
Mormons have leveled off around 85% which is lower than Republicans(90%) the last two years. This isn’t a terribly large difference, but could be suggestive of a certain small group of Mormons deeply resistance to gun control.
The Mormon N-size for this chart is 6135.
We see the same Las Vegas bump in 2017 in support for banning assault rifles, but in recent years that support has reversed and even gone lower than in 2013 among every group with the exception of democrats.
Democrats don’t seem as affected by national trends since such a high number democrats support all gun control measures. Independents are much closer to Republicans on this issue than Democrats — A trend we will continue to see.
Generally, we see Mormons support for gun control fall somewhere in the middle between Independents and Republicans.
The Mormon N-size for this chart is 6134.
National opposition to making it easier to get a concealed carry permits has flatlined, yet we see a small bump for Mormons in 2017 that more or less persists.
Again, we see clear separation from the Democrats and the rest of the US opposing making it easier to get a concealed carry permit.
This one is a bit interesting as we see the 2017 bump for the Mormons, but not any other group. This could be suggestive that some Mormons see fewer concealed carry permits creating a safer environment. Other groups (like Republicans) may see more concealed carry permits as a good protective thing against mass shooters as Republican opposition dropped from 40 to 38. Just a theory though.
Is there support for the recently passed bill “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (2022)?”
Overall, there is strong support for the recently passed bill nationally, with Mormons, and across party lines. In our above chart, we may see more evidence of that small stubborn subset of Mormons perhaps 2 in 10 or 1 in 10 that won’t budge on this issue.
Of course, the truly interesting part of this story we don’t have data for yet! Will the Charlie Kirk assassination change opinions on gun control since its so close to home for many Latter-day Saints? Once the CES data is released for 2025, it will be one of the first things I check!
See you next week!
How much of this do you think is influenced by the fact that Latter-day Saints are pretty clustered in Utah and the surrounding states? It might be a little chicken/egg, but these are pretty red states with more relaxed gun laws.