A year ago, Pew Research published a poll that showed over fourteen million adults in the United States self identified as National Rifle Association (NRA) members.

 From pewresearch.org:

Three-in-ten U.S. adults say they currently own a gun, and of that group, 19% say they belong to the National Rifle Association. While the demographic profile of NRA members is similar to that of other gun owners, their political views, the way they use their firearms and their attitudes about gun policy differ significantly from gun owners who are not members of the organization.

Twenty-four percent of the population of the United States is under 18 years old. There are about 248 million adults. And according to Pew last year, roughly 14 million adults are willing to say they own guns and identify as NRA members.

The actual number of people who identify as NRA members is likely even higher. The poll excludes people who did not identify themselves as gun owners. Gun owners are often unwilling to tell people they have guns. Politically aware gun owners, such as NRA members, are likely to be much more sensitive about admitting gun ownership to someone on the phone. The poll shows some evidence of this.

In 2017, the NRA stated it had five million members. If spouses and adult children also identified as NRA members, without formal membership, the number of self-identified NRA members doubles to 10 million.

Many people stop paying annual dues to the NRA for a multitude of reasons. Some people join the NRA, stop, and rejoin again. It is likely that most people who had an active NRA membership at one time still identify as NRA members.

Spouses, adult children, and former NRA members likely account for most of the population that identify as NRA members without being formally enrolled in the organization.

Now, after the post-Parkland anti-gun hysteria, the NRA may have exceeded six million members. They don’t release their membership rolls to the public for obvious reasons.

All of this — the millions of actual members plus the millions more or identify as members of the NRA — are the source of the organization’s power. They’re one of the most dedicated, aware and active groups in America. They are what provide the political clout the NRA wields in national politics.

©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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44 COMMENTS

    • I’m a vet and was shocked to be asked if I had firearms in my home! S.F.VA facility. (I have no PTSD or any negative psychological issues) I responded, “why do you ask?” and they tried to blow it off with “Oh, it’s just a question on the form.” I declined to answer, noting that if police have ANY indication of a firearm in the residence, they clear the houses for a block around (sure to endear you to your neighbors) and in the majority of reports I’ve read, go in hard. So, be aware that info given in seemingly benign circumstances can pop in non-benign ones. Just saying…

    • the NRA has many “fellow travelers”…easily four or five times the number of their actual membership….

  2. Ah, you don’t know. Perhaps there is a stealth membership, you’ll never know how many members there really are, until it’s *too late*!!!!

    • If NRA members knew how many times the NRA has compromised with the gun-ban nuts, they would join Gun Owners of America (GOA) who have NEVER compromised or sold out gun owners. I used to be an NRA member, but got sick of their compromises. Also, GOA doesn’t have time for slick magazines with articles that have nothing to do with working to keep our Constitutional rights. They put out a small newsletters explaining what they are doing to in regard to the Second Amendment.

      • Maybe that is because the NRA was not founded as a civil rights organization but as an organization that would help train many your Americans (back then that meant mostly men) to gain familiarity with firearms and firearms safety, and to shoot straight, a function it continues to fulfill to this day. Nor was it a gun rights organization back in the 1930s,, so it is incorrect to argue that the NRA “compromised” our rights back then, sincr it had nothing to do with the issue. IN fact, the NRA did not become involved int he rights issues until much later, but for the most part it has been an effective and vocal supported of gun rights since. The NRA has spent millions defending gun rights in cases all over the country.

        • Into the 30s NO there was no NEED for an organization to defend any part of the Constitution. The “progressives” (were a small group of extremist radical marxists with no authority or power. It took those SOBs Wilson and FDR to remake the dem party and put it on their ongoing path attacking the Constitution. This was still a sideline for the dems until well after WWII.

          Just as there was no need for armed guards in banks/trains/stagecoaches until deadbeats began robbing such.

        • (Mark N) All of that would be essentially true, and I’ll even credit them for likely making it possible for the club I am a member of to exist. The NRA makes it possible for my club to get affordable insurance. I have seen the certificates on the walls in the meeting room that detail the donations towards youth programs run by the club. But honestly, I really wish they would stop buying all the cheap chinese swag to be used as promotional items for membership renewal etc. I bet it’s a lot of money that would go to better use.

        • I call Bullshit! “The NRA has spent millions defending gun rights in cases all over the country.”
          Where the hell were they when “Gunmageddon” was taking place here in Kalifornia? Where the hell were they when Kalifornia started their “assault weapon” ban and registration? Where the hell are they in the Peruta case? The list goes on and on. Don’t even get me started about the shit in Oregon and Washington (or should I say Kalifornia lite?)

        • another good one that HAS sued the CA State over firearms policy is the Firearms Policy Institute. Since I retired, I can only support so many groups so dropped out of NRA and gave my donations to this group, since they walk the walk. The NRA at a minimum, since they cop the majority of contributions, should financially help these smaller organizations in their lawsuits. (GOA, GOC, FPC etc.) The State, due to bottomless taxpayer funding support, has a massive advantage that the NRA could help offset. Just my .02.

        • Both plus CCKRBA. Citizen’s Committee For The Right To Keep And Bear Anrs while many more also belong to JFPO , Jew for the Protection of Forearm Ownership.

      • One of the primary tactics of the left is to divide and conquer opponents. In this case, they use their minions to impersonate gun enthusiasts to push a narrative to turn real gun enthusiasts against the NRA. Why the NRA? It has the resources to fight the left. Once the NRA is silenced, they will go after the GOA, which will be an easy domino to knock over. They will keep going until the there are no more organizations who can oppose them. The left is playing chess while some in the gun community are playing checkers. Some of you have even become pawns I see.

        • as SCOTUS changes look for the NRA to bring forth more legal challenges than they have in the past…the NFA was actually a compromise to keep them from being banned completely….

      • Arguing for GOA over NRA is like arguing for infantry over tanks. You need both. One to push into new territory and take oncoming fire, and the other to support and hold taken ground.

    • That’ll be the next liberal talking point. “Stealth NRA members that use ghost guns.”

    • I live one town over from Parkland. Its old news here and would have died a natural death months ago if “we” stop talking about them. The only thing being talked about is when or if and more when. Is the Governor going to kick the Broward sheriff’s ass out. The print media is the only thing keeping it going about the kids.

    • Yeah. They’re winning a great loss for the dnc come November and Trump his second term.

      Great job of ‘winning’ for hogg boy and his handlers.

  4. Number 1 and most important. I always lie to poll takers. Having worked as a poll developer for the government. I can tell you all polls are rigged to get the information the pollster/client is looking for. This is why you almost never see polling results that are a surprise to the pollster/client. Questions are written and asked so to get the desired results. Once the numbers are collected they are presented so to get the desired response for the client. Most polls use such a small sampling group(less than 1000 people) as to make the entire poll worthless. Then they are used as a representation of a much larger group. As in X% of the population believes X. Polls are for the most part a scam to push a particular point or agenda. So always be wary of polls and what they supposedly tell you. At the end of the day they are about Power,Money and Control. Keep Your Powder Dry…

    • What is ironic is that Bill Clinton, arguably the single best retail politician in the last 50+ years, didn’t need to look at the polls to a) know where Hillary’s campaign was failing, b) with whom, and c) why. Bill knew she needed to visit the upper midwest states, aka ‘the rust belt’ and he knew this needed to happen in September of 2016.

      Hillarys fabulous campaign manager, Robby Mook, blew Bill off.

      Most people don’t know who Robby Mook is (or was, at this point). Mook is [in]famous in ‘progressive’ election circles as being a data cruncher, a guy who emphasizes election modeling, statistical sampling, etc to produce mathematical projections of where to spend the least amount of money with the most election-changing outcome. The Democrats are obsessed with these people, from top to bottom. Obama’s campaigns were run by these people.

      Trump came into the 2016 election on a rant, made tons of rookie mistakes in a political campaign, spent only about half of what Hillary did, didn’t use these sorts of statistical pinheads, created a message, kept to the message, and beat Hillary like a rented mule. Trump did this by having learned quite a bit about what makes people tick, and by now, I’m sure that Bill Clinton has grudging respect for Trump’s retail abilities.

      Who among Hillary’s campaign saw the possibility of losing the “blue wall?” Only Bill Clinton – and some low level campaign workers in the rust belt states. How did Bill see it? His gut. Not polls, not statistics, not computer models of voting outcomes. His gut. How did the low-level people in the rust belt see it? They were talking to people on the ground, and they could sense that the old trade-union types had no enthusiasm for Hillary.

      Neither one of these types of analysis and information can be captured well in statistical modeling.

      • The is a concept that businesses used to value called Management By Walking Around. Basically, the concept is to ignore spreadsheets and charts, and talk to employees and customers. The theory is that the customer and front line employees know what the customers want more than a Dogbert sitting in an office reading trade magazines and designing algorithms to prove a preconceived outcome. Trump talks to people, and the Democrat Party does market research.

      • Who amongst the dems was responsible for the billion dollars worth of free publicity the msm gave Trump?

        In their black hearts they thought they were destroying him. Thank whatever deity you believe in that hillary hates bill and refused his advice.

  8. I belong to several pro gun groups. I encourage it to everyone. Tyranny never sleeps.

  9. Well that right there tells you the poll is completely and utterly screwed.

    Unless they used a sample size of around 15 people, there’s no way the number should reasonably be that far off.

    Most people know whether or not they are paying dues to an organization; I have a hard time believing that 2 out of 3 people who answered “Why, yes, I do own a gun” to a pollster would be so dim as to not underst… Oh, wait. Never mind.

    • You can be sure that a significant percentage of those 14M “NRA members” with guns are in fact gun-hating Leftists that want to game the polls so that they show results that even NRA members want “common sense” gun control. Modern day polls are crap and 2016 elections are proof.

  10. Yeah I’m a NRA member. No I never answer polls. Self identify all you want. You might want to step up to reality…

  11. Who answers questions from a phone call? The only way they will ever know for sure is total gun registration, which will never happen . . . . . . . .

    • I don’t even bother to answer the phone anymore. Leave a voicemail.

      Member of NRA, GOA, SAF, Heritage, and contribute to all of them and a few others.

  12. IF i had 900 trillion guns and had 900 million family members who belonged to NRA,GOA,SAF neither i nor my family would answer any poll questions about guns or who i support!!! BTW i have never been called or polled ever!!!

    So who do they poll when 95% of peeps have unlisted cell phones?

    BTW2 What if this is Bloomberg or the DNC/fbi trying to figure out where and who has guns?

  13. Well, that’s a useful number. Throw it out there and make the anti’s refute it.

    “NRA, industry advocacy group promoting sales on the backs of dead children…”

    “Oh, well, 14 million members probably disagree with that.”

    Nice number for marginalization. “So you want to burden at least 14 million citizens with that thing you want to do. Seems like a bit of an imposition …”

  14. Stolen Liberty. Not as insidious as stolen valor but, hey people, c’mon – pony up and pay your dues.

  16. I’m surprised the percentage is that low. I’ve been selling NRA memberships at the door of large IA gun shows for about 30 years- everyone claims to be a member… BS- it’s about 4%, even half of the dealer/vendors aren’t members.

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