Gun Nation: What Really Matters in Terms of Self-Defense…By the Numbers

The 2026 version of William English’s National Firearms Survey is out and just like the 2021 version, it has some interesting implications for the armed citizen.

• 32.7% of U.S. adults (at a minimum) own guns.
• 14.4% of those gun owners say they often carry a defensive firearm.
• Guns are used defensively by firearms owners in approximately 2.2 million incidents per year.
• The 2026 survey showed that no shots were fired in 76.3% of those encounters versus 81.9% of the time in the 2021 survey.
• 50.8% of gun owners surveyed encountered more than one assailant, 32.9% had two and 17.9% had three or more.

Let’s unpack what this means for everyone who practices armed self defense.

That 32.7 percent of the adult population number translates into 88 million gun owners, of which 45.7% — 40 million — are female. Companies like SIG SAUER and organizations like Armed Women of America are doing a great job integrating those female gun owners into the larger firearms market, but with women making up almost half the gun-owning population these days, there’s obviously a need for more.

Again, 14.4 percent of gun owners say they carry a firearm with them on a regular basis. Whether that means “I’ll toss a pistol in the center console of my truck” versus actually taking the time to find a holster that works for them and have it on their person isn’t clear, but at least some effort is being made to carry a gun with them in case they might need it.

That 14.4 percent, however, means that at any given moment, there are almost 13 million people out there carrying a legal defensive firearm with them, a figure which absolutely swamps the estimated 750,000 law enforcement officers in the U.S.

A well-regulated militia, indeed.

That brings us to the next statistic…2.2 million defensive gun uses every year, the great majority of which (70.6 percent, or 1.55 million incidents) are not reported to the police. In those encounters, over three quarters of the time, (76.3 percent), no shots were needed to resolve the encounter in the favor of the armed citizen.

Let’s pause for a moment to consider that last statistic in more depth. The only way you get to be a part of that successful outcome group is if you have a firearm nearby when you need it. No gun, and you become the victim of a violent crime rather than someone who’s able to stand up to a predator. This, in turn, elevates the need to have a gun on you, not near you, which in turn increases the need to find a good holster and a belt or some other safe method to carry a gun.

It also implies that the firearm you carry is enough to give your opponent a good reason to leave you alone, just by seeing what’s in your hand. A two-shot .22LR derringer is definitely easy to carry, but I’m not sure it would cause a bad guy to question his choice of intended victim like a compact 9mm or .38 snubby would.

Speaking of which, slightly over 50 percent of attacks were carried out by one person, with almost 18 percent having three or more. Maybe that snub-nosed .38 should be left at home in favor of something that’s about the same size, like a micro-compact 9mm semi-automatic.

There are a lot of myths and legends surrounding defensive firearms use, so when something like English’s recent survey drops, we should study it closely, learn from it, and use it to guide our gear choices rather than relying on rampant online folklore and comment section bloviating.