Gun control activists demanded better data. What they got surprised the heck out of them

A Georgetown professor just taught gun control activists an important lesson: When you criticize studies that dont support anti-gun talking points, be careful what you wish for — you just might get it. In this case, they got an unprecedented amount of new data that obliterates their narrative.

In 2021, Professor William English published the findings of his National Firearms Survey, by far the most comprehensive assessment of gun ownership ever conducted. The data demonstrated that defensive gun uses were commonplace, that ordinary Americans really like the weapons gun control activists hate most and that longstanding stereotypes about the "sort" of Americans who exercise their Second Amendment rights were misplaced.

Gun control activists predictably hated this. They attacked the reports conclusions and author, blasting the survey over nitpicky concerns. English explained how the alleged problems wouldnt have significantly impacted the results. Critics categorically dismissed the report anyway.

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So, English humored them. He re-administered the survey, "fixing" its alleged "mistakes."

If gun control activists hated the 2021 conclusions, they will likely lose their minds over the new ones, which English just released online. The improved and redesigned 2026 survey fails to vindicate their criticisms and deals even mightier blows to anti-gun narratives.

Here are four of the most significant findings from the new report:

Anti-gun activists love to target so-called and "high-capacity magazines" (magazines holding more than 10 rounds). They frame them as "weapons of war" with "no civilian purpose," claiming theyre not "in common use" for lawful purposes and therefore unprotected by the Second Amendment.

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The 2021 survey tore this argument to shreds, estimating that tens of millions of ordinary Americans own these rifles and magazines for lawful purposes like self-defense, hunting and sport shooting. Critics complained that the questions asked whether respondents had ever owned a magazine holding more than 10 rounds, or an AR-15 or "similarly styled rifle." They argued this language inflated numbers by including former (but not current) owners and semiautomatic rifles that arent technically "assault weapons."

The 2026 survey accordingly asked whether respondents currently own an AR-15 or a "similarly styled semiautomatic rifle with a pistol grip" — a feature universally cited in "assault weapon" definitions.

The new data vindicates English. Despite five years of efforts to "get weapons of war off our streets," an estimated 26.4 million American adults now own an AR-15 or its equivalent, up from the 24.6 million Americans estimated by the 2021 survey to have ever owned one.

The same trajectory holds for magazines. In 2021, 48% of gun owners — roughly 39 million Americans — were estimated to have ever owned one capable of holding more than 10 rounds. Five years later, an estimated 44.5 million currently own one, and gun owners are now even slightly more likely to own one (50.5%) than to not own one.

Englishs original survey estimate