William English, a Georgetown professor, released a 2021 report called the National Firearms Survey that examined gun ownership in the United States. That report, which was criticized by gun-hating activists, has now been updated in a 2026 report, a Fox News op-ed reported.
“If gun control activists hated the 2021 conclusions,” writes attorney-activist Amy Swearer, “they will likely lose their minds over the new ones…”
That's because the new report asked a new set of questions to quiet the critics. The professor’s 2021 question about so-called “assault weapons” was criticized because the report concluded tens of millions of Americans have an "assault weapon” in their home.
That number was surely inflated, the gun-hating critics said, because those firearms are evil and dangerous “weapons of war” that most Americans want to ban.
According to Swearer’s article, English revised that question to more accurately define an “assault weapon” to please his critics. The new survey estimates 26.4 million Americans own at least one, which is up from 24.6 million in the 2021 report.
Much like the AR-15 is ominously described as a “weapon of war,” the magazines that hold the rounds are labeled a “high-capacity” magazines that are also a main target of anti-gun hysteria.
In the new survey, 50% of gun owners said they own at least one magazine that holds more than 10 rounds. In the previous survey, that number was 48%.
Justin Davis, director of public affairs at the National Rifle Association, said the survey’s findings were “no surprise” to the NRA.
After anti-gun advocates have spent hundreds of millions of dollars “dehumanizing” gun owners, Davis said, “you're seeing the statistics finally come out that show the firearm ownership in this country keeps us safer, doesn't make us more of a threat for crime. "
Pointing to another survey topic, which is the diversity of gun owners, Davis said that finding shatters the stereotype of white male Republican gun owners. The survey found a jump in firearm purchases and ownership by women and by minorities.
“This is Republican, Democrat, independent,” Davis said. “The full spectrum of Americans are purchasing firearms to protect their families because they know when the seconds count, police are only minutes away.”
