Conservatives Privately Support Several Firearm Policies, but Don’t Publicly Demand Them

A Rutgers Health study highlights that conservatives who support firearm policies are no less likely than liberals to believe their peers support those same policies

Surveys have repeatedly shown bipartisan support for a number of firearm policies, including universal background checks. Despite this private support, there is little public demand by conservatives that such policies be enacted on the state or federal level.

A study, conducted by the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers University and appearing in Preventive Medicine Reports, asked whether the gap between private support and public demand could be explained by a sense among conservatives that their community may alienate them if they publicly vocalize their support. But the researchers found that the answer is no.

“It might simply be that while many conservatives support these policies, they simply are not as high of a priority for them as they are for more liberal individuals,” said Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and lead author of the study

Rutgers Health researchers examined this question in a representative sample in mid-2023 of 7,529 adults from nine states: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Colorado and Washington.

Consistent with prior research and public polls, our findings demonstrate that the majority of Americans support a range of firearm policies. The issue is that more conservative communities tend to support these policies in private, but not demand them in public.

Michael Anestis

Executive Director, New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center

The authors assessed nine different policies: licensing laws, universal background checks, extreme risk protection orders, secure storage laws, assault weapons bans, high-capacity magazine bans, allowing teachers to carry firearms at school, allowing individuals to carry firearms publicly without a permit and tax incentives for purchasing firearm locks. Overall, 32% of the sample identified as conservative, 40.4% as moderate and 27.6% as liberal.

Three policies were supported by a majority of members of all political groups: licensing (70.1% of conservatives, 77.4% of moderates, 94.3% of liberals), universal background checks (86% of conservatives, 87.2% of moderates, 96.1% of liberals) and extreme risk protection orders (64.5% of conservatives, 75.3% of moderates, 90.8% of liberals). Another, secure storage laws, nearly did so as well (49.7% of conservatives, 66.8% of moderates, 84.6% of liberals). All remaining policies demonstrated substantial partisan differences in levels of support.                               

“Consistent with prior research and public polls, our findings demonstrate that the majority of Americans support a range of firearm policies,” Anestis said. “The issue is that more conservative communities tend to support these policies in private, but not demand them in public.”

What stood out as surprising to the authors was that conservatives who supported various firearm policies were no less likely than moderate or liberal supporters to believe that their peers support those same policies as strongly as they do. Given this, the data doesn’t support the notion that the lack of public conservative support for these policies is explained by conservative fears of alienating their communities.

“In the meantime, defeating these policies is an enormous priority for firearm lobbyists and, because of this, the only pressure felt by conservative elected officials comes from individuals with a financial interest in preventing these policies from passing,” Anestis said.