gun store sale
Gun shop owner Jesus "Chuy" Aguirre attends to customer Angel Zacarias in Chuy's Gun Shop in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee)

By Larry Keane

An Axios/Ipsos poll showed Hispanic swing voters are concerned about crime, criminal violence and personal safety. That finding wasn’t a surprise to NSSF. Hispanic-Americans, along with nearly every other demographic group, are embracing their right to lawfully purchase and own a firearm. Firearm industry retail survey data revealed this growing trend a year ago. That’s when law-abiding Latinos purchased firearms in big numbers and the demographics of America’s gun owners continued to show growth.

Hispanic-Americans aren’t an outlier community and examples are plenty. Suburban swing voters and other minority groups demonstrated similar patterns as they saw policy failures affecting their safety, fully embraced lawful gun ownership and exercised their Second Amendment right.

Data Tells

The Axios/Ipsos poll asked Hispanic-Americans about their top concerns and crime and violence came in at the number two spot at 30 percent – behind only COVID worries at 37 percent. Per Axios, “The finding is a warning for President Biden ahead of next year’s midterms.” A similar Wall Street Journal poll from a week earlier showed Hispanic voters are turning away from Democrats, typically supportive of more gun control, and are now nearly evenly split between their party preference.

The 2022 elections mark the first regular national Election Day since the 2020 election over which time Americans have seen rampant violent crime in cities across the country, calls to defund the police and for prosecutors to go easy on convicted criminals. It also witnessed historic firearm sales.

Second Amendment Swings

The overlay of rising crime concerns for Hispanic-Americans and their firearm purchasing is stark. According to NSSF retailer survey data, law-abiding Hispanic-Americans purchased firearms in 2020 at a 49 percent higher rate than they did in 2019. That swing of Hispanic-Americans’ preference showed in the 2020 presidential election where former President Donald Trump’s message of law and order and support for the Second Amendment resonated. The former president garnered 10 percent more Hispanic-American vote share than he did in 2016.

The trends stood out in states like Texas and California. LaPolitica Online reported on the swing of Hispanic-Americans purchasing firearms. Rafael Cedillo owns a firearm safety business where he offers training and educational courses in El Paso where in 2019 a murderer killed 23 people at Walmart. “It’s sad, but my business really booms after a tragic incident,” Cedillo said. The firearm buying surge left his business busy. “After the one in El Paso, my home, I couldn’t fit everyone into my schedule.”

Latino voters in Texas have also failed to carry gun control candidates over the finish line. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) defeated former U.S. Rep. Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke in the 2018 senate race and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott received more than 44 percent of the Latino vote in the previous midterm election.

Election 2020 Beto O'Rourke
Beto O’Rourke (AP Photo/John Locher)

In the national elections in 2020 and off-year 2021 elections in Virginia, billionaire gun control backer and former failed presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg used his gun control groups Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action and spent more than $1 billion dollars to swing legislative seats at the state and federal level. He came up short as voters roundly rejected him and his policies to restrict the Second Amendment.

Right of All

The same NSSF survey data that showed a 49 percent increase in Hispanic-American gun owners between 2019 and 2020 also revealed 40 percent of all firearm purchases went to first-time buyers. With more than 8.4 million first-time owners in 2020 combined with more than 3.2 million in the first six months of 2021, the portion of Americans who previously may have supported gun control or refused to buy a gun became so moved by the crime surge and violence that they witnessed, no matter what their race or politics before, and went to the community firearm retailer and walked out with a new purchase.

CBS News reported on P.J. Gomez, a law student at University of California Berkeley – hardly a bastion of gun rights supporters – who founded the Latino Rifle Association. The group has already added several hundred members. “I don’t believe self-defense… should be exclusive to people on the right politically,” Gomez said. “The police and the government aren’t taking care of me, so I have to do things on my own.”

That belief manifested itself in the historic number of new gun owners in America, including large numbers of African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Hispanic-Americans. If law-abiding citizens of any race or gender continue to see elected officials fail to protect them and make their communities safer, they will continue to go out and legally purchase firearms. They’ll also support candidates at the polls who will protect their right to do so.

 

Larry Keane is SVP for Government and Public Affairs, Assistant Secretary and General Counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

 

46 COMMENTS

  1. I don’t believe self-defense… should be exclusive to people on the right politically,” Gomez said. “The police and the government aren’t taking care of me, so I have to do things on my own.

    Self-defense has never been exclusive to the “right”. Self-harm has just been more prominent in the “left”. Acknowledgement of this fact, and developing self-reliance is taking your first step to the “right”.

    • Ragnar,

      Self-harm has just been more prominent in the ‘left’.

      Well said.

      I tip my hat to you fine sir or ma’am.

  2. “They’ll also support candidates at the polls who will protect their right to do so.”

    There’s nothing inherently wrong with wishful thinking, but that’s a leap of logic that I’m not willing to take. Generational change takes several generations, and low information voters will tend stay true to the Democrat party even if it means voting against their own interests.

    Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the average American.

    • “Generational change takes several generations, and low information voters will tend stay true to the Democrat party even if it means voting against their own interests.”

      Latino immigrants from Mexico and Central America if anything are very pragmatic people. They uprooted their lives (at great personal risk to themselves) to make it to America to escape the anarchy and chaos south of the US border. They have had direct experience with violent, murderous Leftist Scum ideology and they are determined to not let that happen here in the US.

      That is the real driver in the Latino rapid shift away from the political Left. They have the personal stories to tell of family members ‘disappearing’ in the night never to be seen again. Of what actual government corruption looks like.

      The best news for us is that they are only now beginning to realize this titanic shift is taking place. Just search for “Latino shift away from the Democrat party”. The top results are from NPR, the NYT, and CNN.

      Here’s a typical one :

      “Why Democrats Are Losing Texas Latinos”

      https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/democrats-losing-texas-latinos-trump/

      The very best news is, they won’t get them back with platitudes. They are gone from voting Leftist forever… 😉

    • “Generational change takes several generations, and low information voters will tend stay true to the Democrat party”

      No problem. They’ll just import more low information voters to offset any political shift among actual citizens. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. They’re currently ignoring a SC decision because it interferes with this precise strategy, and they have no respect for the rule of law.

  3. … [Hispanic-Americans’] top concerns … crime and violence came in at the number two spot at 30 percent – behind only COVID worries at 37 percent.

    And now we know why Progressive adherents pushed ineffective (and even counterproductive) COVID policy so hard, because COVID panic and suffering:

    1) facilitates unprecedented Ruling Class power and money grabs

    — and —

    2) majorly distracts people from more serious systemic problems which Progressive politicians have created to, wait for it, grab more power and money

    I commend the populace for tooling up in order to minimize the harm which criminals can thrust upon them.

    I wish the populace would wise up to the much larger systemic chaos and destruction that the Ruling Class is sowing.

    • Not only that, they get to conveniently blame Covid for everything. It’s like Climate Change 2.0. Everything bad is because of it, and the only way to fight it is with Unlimited Power(!), oh, and lots of cash! They’re really going to miss the Xi Variant when it’s gone.

      • Xi variant may end up being an unintentional mass vaccination the rate it is going up here. Already displaced Delta and in 1/6th of the time it took delta to become dominant. Oh and any news you hear about NY hospitals (at least outside NY) being overcrowded just ignore we have around half the staff we did compared to last year and we are seeing fewer covid hospitalizations week after week for our 3rd in a row.

    • “I wish the populace would wise up to the much larger systemic chaos and destruction that the Ruling Class is sowing.”

      The Latinos are doing just that, with the decisive politics of CRT infecting their children’s schools. The parents saw it in their youth in Central and South America, where it led to things like ‘Comrade Che’ and ‘Shining Path’ :

      https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shining-Path

      Eyes are slowly opening, Uncommon. Let’s give the Leftist Scum all the rope they need to hang themselves. It only took 2 years for the Left to lose the Latino vote *forever*… 🙂

      • See above. They just import more. Don’t look now, but they’re already letting noncitizens vote at the state level. Their proposed legislation would essentially allow them to vote for the President without being prosecuted. Hmm. I expect them to be talking about “a path to citizenship” in the upcoming elections. Watch the propagandist media run nonstop emotional stories to gin up sympathy for it.

        • “See above. They just import more.”.

          Seen the latest ‘Wall Street Journal’ poll on Latino voters? It’s moved nearly 20 percent in *our* direction, 49 to 48 percent, currently.

          That’s *huge*.

          That’s from a demographic the Leftist Scum thought they had locked up tight. The change is real, and it’s happening, and illegals will have little impact on the final numbers…

        • That is huge. I’m not denying it. I imagine that poll is from actual legal citizens that can vote. Those people can see how much the Democrats are failing this country. How much will 2,000,000 illegal immigrants this year alone dilute that? There’s a reason they’re flooding the country with them. They’re going to push for amnesty and “voting rights” so they can remove every bit of those gains. Then, there’s always more where that came from. That’s their strategy. They gave up on trying to win people over with their ideas. Listen to the people in the caravans making their way here. They no nothing about our politics or policies, but they know they love Joe Biden.

  4. People of al races and ethnic backgrounds are rejecting the Left’s attempts at control over the populace.

    • For far too long sneaky Gun Control zealots have been allowed to get away with mixing lines 1 and 2 together and keeping line 3 The Truth About Gun Control out of sight and out of mind. Until everything is separated and kept separated expect people to fall for Gun Control…

      1) The Second Amendment is one thing.

      2) The criminal misuse of firearms, bricks, bats, knives, vehicles, etc. is another thing.

      3) History Confirms Gun Control in any shape, matter or form is a racist and nazi based Thing.

  5. With recent poling showing Hispanics pretty much rejecting leftist crap whole cloth I expect Biden to finish Trumps wall and take credit for it.

    But who knows. Blacks reject much of the progressives BS but still vote for them overwhelmingly.

    Why elect people who run on a platform that contradicts your personal beliefs? It can be as simple as promising free shit.

    • Voting demographics have less meaning when elections are won by fictitious voters. Federal control of elections, voter I.D. bans, mail-in ballots and no proof of citizenship will all negate the need to win a specific demographic.

      • Then act locally. Be an election observer. Send info via means other than YouTwitFace leftist-media systems.

  6. Hmm. Having lived in SoCal my entire life, and worked among Latinos continuously, I can tell you right now that I’ve met very few who come here to the U.S.A. and subscribe to our foundational “Don’t Tread On Me” ideology. Of those I personally know who eventually purchased or assembled guns for themselves, nearly all of them still march to Sacramento’s beat and willingly registered their 80% builds, or go with any unconstitutional restrictions without complaint, because they viewed Government in their native countries as All Powerful, and even when they became American citizens, they continued to hold that view.

    Nearly all Latino gun owners I personally know see guns as an American style hobby, not as implements of liberty from tyranny. As soon as TPTB tell them to surrender the guns, they will do it. The only one I know who says he’ll refuse, and stand shoulder to shoulder with Patriots (because he now considers himself to be fully American, not “Latino”) has to hide his patriotism from his extended family.

      • Is this what conservatism has come to?

        Bring Mexicans here for cheap labor, then once they step on this magic dirt- we’ll change intrinsic make up?

        A golden retriever makes for a good family dog. Pit bulls attack their own owners and eat their litters.

        Different systems work for different people. When you have a country defined by the Naturalization Act of 1790, you can have a population that believes in liberty.

        Rather than convert them- they “gotta go back”. Stop being retarded conservative man- it’s ok to acknowledge that different races have different temperaments, just like different breeds of dogs.

      • Is this what conservatism has come to?

        Bring Mexicans here for cheap labor, then once they step on this magic dirt- we’ll change intrinsic make up?

        A golden retriever makes for a good family dog. Pit bulls attack their own owners and eat their litters.

        Different systems work for different people. When you have a country defined by the Naturalization Act of 1790, you can have a population that believes in liberty.

        Rather than convert them- they “gotta go back”. Stop being retarded conservative man- it’s ok to acknowledge that different races have different temperaments, just like different breeds of dogs. Yo.

        • “…it’s ok to acknowledge that different races have different temperaments, just like different breeds of dogs. Yo.”

          Take your crap back to your little buddies in ‘stormfront’, because it’s not welcome here, ‘yo’… 🙁

        • Yep, people of different ethic backgrounds do have attributes attributed to their ethnicity. I’ve found generalities like this are often donkey dust. You cant pigeon hole someone because of they ethnic background.
          Conservativism is a ideology based on the tenants of the Founding Fathers who are referred to as “Classic Liberals.”
          Liberals of today are not “liberal” in any sense of the word. They are Leftists often espousing the tenants of Karl Marx and Walter Engels. They use the tactics of Fascists and Nazis two philosophies based on Socialism.

    • “The only one I know who says he’ll refuse, and stand shoulder to shoulder with Patriots (because he now considers himself to be fully American, not “Latino”) has to hide his patriotism from his extended family.”

      That’s rapidly changing, far faster than anyone expected. The Leftist Scum secured their power base to quicksand, and are now paying the price. Next November, that bill comes due, and it’s going to be glorious to watch… 😉

    • Meh…had a lot of dealings with mostly Mexican “Hispanics”. I’ll believe they’ll quit voting Dim when I see it! Note the droves of colored folk buying gats but still firmly ensconced on the massa’s plantation(especially here in Cook county). The cognitive retardation is startlingly obvious…

        • Ok Jebra- if this is Republican, I don’t want to be a Republican anymore.

          You pick one anecdote in the face of overwhelming evidence. The Libs are even this dumb.

          Who are you trying to impress? Some liberal that you’re not racist? This is boomer narcissism at its worst.

          I want to live in America, not a vassal state of Mexico. I want to speak English.

        • I’d rather my daughter marry a white liberal guy who supports the CA AWB, than some cholo gangster who loves his glock.

        • Texass is a poor example Geoff. Wait’ll it permanente turns purple or even blue. I speak of what I see(and hear) every freaking day. My neighbors speak no english amigo. Neither do the compadres across the street. No Bueno…

        • “This is boomer narcissism at its worst.”

          I’m no ‘boomer’, bro… 🙂

        • “I’d rather my daughter marry a white liberal guy who supports the CA AWB”

          Believing you have a daughter is as hysterical as your lie that you’re ‘highly-educated’.

          Put up or shut up, little-boy troll. Where and when did you graduate, and under what name?

          You won’t answer, because you can’t… 😉

        • I do have a daughter.

          I do not consider myself “highly educated”. Where did come from? I have a B.A. in Math from UCLA. Dropped out of Ph.D. (Algebraic Geometry) to work in finance. Moved back from NYC. Now I work in tech. Live in SF Bay Area. Uhm- why does this matter? Do you have a masters degree from the prestigious university of Phoenix? Oh wow- I am impressed. (An aside, anyone who gives any weight to degrees is engaging in credentialism. It’s retarded to value someone by how much money they gave to communist liberal academia.)

          Now you’re making an *ad hominem* argument and appealing to authority and credentials.

          But you post one bad example of a republican mayor in Texas (when statistics show the Latinos overwhelmingly vote liberal) to OWN THA LIBTARDS. Ya ok Geoff the Jebra Jeb Bush GUACBOWL TOTALLY NOT RACISTS PR.

          I’m honest enough to admit I don’t want reggateton blasting at 3am.

        • “I do have a daughter.

          I do not consider myself “highly educated”.”

          I wasn’t speaking to you, I was replying to the troll that wrote :

          “I’d rather my daughter marry a white liberal guy who supports the CA AWB, than some cholo gangster who loves his glock.”

          You aren’t the only one commenting in this thread.

          Clear enough for you? 🙂

        • Geoff is a hate filled boomer and half wit who has never been with a woman in the biblical sense. This explains his ever present anger and frustration. Definitely not the kind of ‘man’ who should have possession of, or access to, firearms.

  7. The fact that this is such a big thing is in itself borderline offensive. Hyphenated Americans are Americans that are not sure they want to be. You are or your not.

    You have the right to self defense by virtue of being human.

    The right is protected by the 2nd Amendment by virtue of being American.

    Being black, hispanic, red, green, or blue is not a qualifier anymore than being white. There is nothing in the 2nd Amendment that stipulates race, color, gender, or religious belief.

    • Prndll,

      There is another problem with the notion that “brown people” are somehow different from “white” people. What exactly is a “brown” person and what exactly is a “white” person? Is there a certain dark level that your skin has to have to be “brown”? Then what about “white” people whose skin is darker than “brown” people when they are sporting a serious suntan? Are they “brown” while their tan is intense and then they revert to “white” after their tan fades a certain amount? Does anyone else see the GINORMOUS problem where a single person can be “brown” at times and “white” at other times?

      I really wish the masses would stop falling for all of this stupid sort of identity politics.

      • That gets on my nerves. Some people don’t realize that there are plenty of fair skinned people south of the border. Don’t tell anyone, but they’re descended from Europeans (gasp!) just like white Americans. Is it weird that the Party of Diversity and Inclusion is OBSESSED with skin color and racial identity? You’re right, it’s sad.

      • Didn’t we have a president ,a few years ago,that lived on this principle? He was white or black depending on who he was trying to influence. I personally think being American is a belief held within irrespective of race,nationality ,or religion. God bless Americans.

    • “There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism…The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin…would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities.” – Theodore Roosevelt

      • Ahnold Swartzennegro Bad news. WE are unabashedly Americans and damn proud of our country. If you don’t want to live in a country like America where we take AMERICA FIRST seriously, then you need to go to a country more in line with your political rhetoric. We would be most happy to pay your way if you promise NEVER return.

  8. Most of the Latinos I know are only in the U.S. for the money. They dont care who’s running the show or what country it is as long as they get that money.

    • hard to live without it…and why should they be any different than the rest of us when it comes to self-protection?

      • Patriotism for the country is different then I’m just here for the beer.
        Yes they do have the right to self defense. Never said they didnt.

    • Could be green,white , red. And they’re not long and sharp so they wont scratch the curly maple stock. That’s a plus

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