--- description: Support for gun control has declined sharply in the United States as support for gun rights has risen over the last 20 years. title: The Reasons for the Decline in Support for Gun Control image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Guns](/tag/guns/) ## Guns Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Reasons for the Decline in Support for Gun Control by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 8, 2015 6:32 AM CUT by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 8, 2015 6:32 AM CUT The gun debate in the United States has changed a lot over the last 20 years. Support for gun control has declined sharply as support for gun rights has risen, [as we noted earlier this week](http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/data-shows-why-gun-proposals-are-rarely-acted-n438281 "undefined"). Those trends are evident in data from a range of sources including [Gallup](http://www.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.aspx "undefined") and the [Pew Research Center](http://www.people-press.org/2015/08/13/gun-rights-vs-gun-control/#total "undefined"). A complicated mix of emotions, attitudes and perceptions go into how people feel about guns, but when you look at the data, two points help explain the drop in support for gun control. Over the same period of time the violent crime rate has also dropped… [_Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/reasons-decline-support-gun-control-n440101?cid=par-time-article%5F20151008 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4065792/gun-control-u-s-support-rights/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4065792/gun-control-u-s-support-rights/"},"headline":"The Reasons for the Decline in Support for Gun Control","datePublished":"2015-10-08T06:32:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:54:51.235Z","description":"The partisan differences on gun control have become much more pronounced","url":"https://time.com/4065792/gun-control-u-s-support-rights/","keywords":["Guns","Gun Control","United States","Rights","support"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/guns/","name":"Guns"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4065792/gun-control-u-s-support-rights/","name":"The Reasons for the Decline in Support for Gun Control"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Second Amendment: The Origins of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms","description":"Why did the framers of the U.S. constitution demand the right of the people to keep and bear arms?","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/EKSoNmRv/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2011-06-28T14:52:14.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EKSoNmRv.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4065792/gun-control-u-s-support-rights/","duration":"PT3M22S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4065792/gun-control-u-s-support-rights/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```