Nearly 80 million strong
Nope, not about gun owners who personally own a firearm. Coincidentally with the estimate of personal gun ownership, 80 million is an approximate number of americans who believe (or believed 9 yrs ago 2008) that the 2nd amendment pertained to a militia centric right, not solely an individual rkba = right to keep bear arms.
Sure, most americans today believe it's an individual rkba, but they've been brainwashed a lot by rightwing gun lobby propaganda over the years, or influenced by their parents, or perhaps in some younger macho stage of life.
Approx 322 million americans today,
Age 18 and over 247,773,709 = 77% total population
http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/99-total-population-by-child-and-adult#detailed/1/any/false/573,869,36,868,867/39,40,41/416,417
Of the adult population, 31% x ~250 million = 75 million. Tho the polls below surveyed only adults, I think we could include adolescents knowledgeable on history, who would agree on first sight with a militia interpretation. Indeed, I was a child maybe 8 when I saw the 2ndA the first time & immediately thought it had to do with the militia, not granting individual rights to guns. So with the adolescent population it's about 80 million, STRONG.
(Ha, cannot apply adolescents to law abiding gun owner figures, can they?)
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. June 4-5, 2008. N=1,035 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3. "Part of the debate about gun ownership hinges on how we interpret the U.S. constitution. The exact words of the constitution are as follows: 'A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed upon.'
Do you think these words guarantee each person the right to own a gun, or do they protect the right of citizens to form a militia without implying that each individual has the right to own a gun?"
Right of Each PersonTo Own a Gun .... Right of Citizens to Form a Militia Unsure
6/4-5/08 .. 67........................................ 30........................... 4
12/6-9/07.. 65......................................... 31....................... 5
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. Dec. 6-9, 2007. N=1,002 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
"Part of the debate about gun ownership hinges on how we interpret the U.S. constitution. The exact words of the constitution are as follows: 'A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed upon.'
Do you think these words guarantee each person the right to own a gun, or do they protect the right of citizens to form a militia without implying that each individual has the right to own a gun?"
Right of Each Person To Own a Gun .... Right of Citizens to Form a Militia
ALL adults... 65 ........31
Men........... 72 ........26
Women .......58 ........35
Urban......... 50 ........42
Suburban.... 64 ........32
Rural ..........73 ........23 http://www.pollingreport.com/guns2.htm
There are other polls circa 2008 which resulted in only 20% for a well regulated millitia, but the poll wording was so awful that it only reflected modern thought on whether the national gds could own guns, & not people.
gallup, boo on wording: Do you believe the Second Amendment to the U.S. constitution guarantees the rights of Americans to own guns, or do you believe it only guarantees members of state militias such as National Guard units the right to own guns?" --- barf, national guards weren't even in existence in 1791.
Then CNN in 2009 had a post 2008 heller poll, so misleading it reveals little tho backs up at 21% gallup's poor wording: It was only intended to preserve the existence of citizen-militias, and does not give individual Americans the right to keep and bear arms for their own defense."
Even at 20%, that's about 50 million. The more educated people get about the 2ndA, the more apt they are to realize it pertained to primarily the militia, while certainly not disallowing gun ownership.