The 2026 survey found that 26.4 million American adults now own an AR‑15‑style rifle or a similar semiautomatic firearm, an increase from the 24.6 million estimated in the 2021 study.

It also estimated that 44.5 million people currently possess high‑capacity magazines that hold more than ten rounds, up from roughly 39 million who had ever owned such magazines in 2021.

Defensive gun uses rose to an average of 2.2 million incidents per year, compared with 1.67 million reported in the earlier survey. Seventy percent of gun owners say they keep a firearm for self‑defense.

The survey counted 33.6 million Americans as “public carriers” – people who have a concealed‑carry permit and sometimes carry a handgun in public – representing a 60 % jump over the past five years.

These higher numbers contradict many anti‑gun arguments that claim firearms are rare, rarely used for protection, and that public carry is limited. The new data therefore shocked gun‑control activists and gave them a new set of facts to consider.