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Yes. In the General Social Survey data analyzed by RAND, the share of U.S. adult women reporting that they personally own a firearm rose from 9.95% in 2018 to 16.38% in 2024. That is a marked increase in reported ownership—not evidence, by itself, that women are more proficient with firearms or safer because they own them.
What changed in women’s reported gun ownership?
RAND Corporation researchers Rosanna Smart and Andrew R. Morral analyzed General Social Survey (GSS) data collected by NORC at the University of Chicago. The survey has asked about personal and household gun ownership roughly every two years for about five decades. RAND’s 2026 analysis finds that personal ownership among adult women increased between 2018 and 2024.
| Measure | 2018 | 2024 | What it measures |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult women reporting personal firearm ownership | 9.95% (about 10%) | 16.38% (about 16%) | The share of adult women who said they personally owned a firearm |
| Women’s share of all gun owners | 22% | 32% | The share of gun owners who were women—not the share of women who owned guns |
| Gender gap in personal ownership | 29 percentage points in 2004 | 19 percentage points | The difference between men’s and women’s personal ownership rates; RAND reports the 2024 gap |
These are distinct measures. The first uses adult women as its denominator; the second uses all gun owners. A rise in women’s share of owners can reflect growth in women’s ownership, changes among men, or both. The household ownership measure is different again: a woman may live in a home with a firearm without personally owning one.
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Is the increase happening across all groups?
RAND reports increases since 2018 in nearly every race, age, marital-status, education, and income category it examined. The overall trend therefore is not confined to one demographic group, although it is not uniform in size.
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Hispanic women and women in parts of the Upper Midwest had large relative increases from historically low baselines. A large relative increase from a small starting share does not necessarily mean a large percentage-point increase. RAND’s reported subgroup summary does not establish a single rate or change that should be applied to every group.
How certain are the survey estimates?
The figures measure self-reported answers, not firearm purchase records. RAND notes that respondents may not know or may choose not to disclose whether they own firearms. The authors explain that “because there are no administrative datasets that capture gun ownership or sales, survey data are the best we have to work with.”
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Survey results can also differ because questions and sampling methods differ. RAND cautions that estimates from other national surveys are not directly interchangeable with the GSS figures. Any ownership statistic should be read alongside its survey, question, year, and denominator rather than treated as a definitive rate for every U.S. woman.
A separate Rutgers study discussed in Reason’s July 5, 2023 coverage used probabilities to estimate potential underreporting. Its “likely” owners were not individually confirmed as people who had falsely denied ownership, so that analysis does not provide a verified count of concealed ownership.
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Does more ownership mean women are safer?
Not on the evidence summarized by RAND. Smart and Morral say available evidence does not clearly support or refute the claim that greater firearm ownership among women has reduced women’s fatal or nonfatal victimization. A trend in self-reported ownership is descriptive; it cannot show that ownership caused a change in safety or victimization.
Ownership also does not establish training, proficiency, public carrying, readiness, or successful defensive use. The GSS trend measures reported personal ownership, not those outcomes. Explanations such as protection concerns or changing attitudes may be possible motivations for some people, but the cited ownership figures do not establish why each person acquired a firearm or prove one cause for the increase.
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What “better armed” means—and what it does not
The headline’s phrase “better armed” is rhetorical. The supported finding is narrower: a larger share of U.S. adult women reported personally owning firearms in the 2024 GSS than in 2018, and women made up a greater share of gun owners. The data do not show that women are globally more armed, that every subgroup changed equally, or that increased ownership has made women safer.
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