A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that across all political and social groups in the United States, there is a strong preference against living near AR-15 rifle owners and neighbors who store guns outside of locked safes. This surprising consensus suggests that when it comes to immediate living environments, Americans’ views on gun control may be less divided than the polarized national debate suggests.
The research was conducted against a backdrop of increasing gun violence and polarization on gun policy in the United States. The United States has over 350 million civilian firearms and gun-related incidents, including accidents and mass shootings, have become a leading cause of death in the country. Despite political divides, the new study aimed to explore whether there’s common ground among Americans in their immediate living environments, focusing on neighborhood preferences related to gun ownership and storage.
Am I reading this data sheet correctly? Did they seriously use a data set of 2100 people and call that “widespread”?
A random sample of 2100 people is often sufficient to get a statistical significant result for a population of around 50 million with a 5% margin of error.
I’d maybe add a few thousand more for a study that represents the entire USA, but 2100 isn’t a small sample size.