Poll: Gun Rights Supporters Donate Far More on The Issue Than Gun Control Advocates

Pew pollsters find people who want more gun restrictions don't vote with their wallets
By Elizabeth Flock - 7/29/2013

Poll also found that gun rights activists are more politically involved than gun control supporters.

Gun rights supporters donate four times more and are more politically involved than gun control advocates, according to a poll from the Pew Research Center published this weekend.

In May 2013, six months after the Newtown school shooting that sparked a national conversation on guns � and a month after the Senate failed to pass a major gun bill � Pew found that 25 percent of people who support gun rights had contributed money to a second amendment group, while just 6 percent of people who support gun control had donated on the issue. Those numbers were roughly the same as what Pew found in January 2013, just a month after the shooting.

Danielle Thompson, a spokeswoman for the National Association for Gun Rights � a pro-gun group � says the findings don't surprise her.

"We've seen the majority of our donations come in when Congress is trying to pass legislation restricting gun rights," she said. "And any time you see the government encroaching on second amendment rights we see people going out and buying guns, buying ammo, showing the government that their liberties are not going anywhere."

The poll also found that gun rights activists are more politically involved, with 16 percent having contacted a public official to express their views, compared to 11 percent of gun control supporters.

Those who prioritize gun rights were also more likely not to vote for a candidate who has different gun views � 41 percent of gun rights supporters said they wouldn't � while fewer gun control supporters, or 31 percent, said a lawmaker's policy would change the way they voted.

Gun control advocates were close to gun rights activists on one metric: signing petitions. Pew found that in the last six months, 10 percent of gun rights supporters signed a petition on gun policy, compared to 8 percent of supporters of gun control.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns, one of the biggest gun control groups in the U.S., has encouraged supporters to sign a number of online petitions, including a petition to fix the background check system that garnered more than 1.5 million signatures.