What if someone told you a likely voter who identifies as “very liberal” is more likely to carry concealed than a likely voter who identifies as “very conservative”?
You’d likely ask what website printed that statistic.
In this case, it came from a very reputable one: the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC). The CPRC hired McLaughlin & Associates to survey 1,000 general election voters on May 19, 2026, to determine how many voters carry concealed handguns.
“Hispanic and black voters carry concealed handguns at disproportionately high rates relative to their shares of the voting population,” noted the CPRC. “Perhaps most surprising, voters who identify as ‘very liberal’ report carrying all or most of the time at the highest rate of any ideological group, slightly exceeding the rate among those who identify as ‘very conservative,’ the second-highest group.”
All of the results from this survey would be fun to relate to a member of The New York Times editorial board, as it should make them pause and fret about their political position on the Second Amendment—elections, or to be more precise the power elections represent, are what worries woke, elitist anti-gun types such as those at the Times. Indeed, the changes this survey found expose a shift in the use—and, hopefully, understanding—of this right.
This survey found that 30 percent of likely voters say they carry a concealed handgun at least occasionally, while 13.2 percent say they carry all or most of the time. In constitutional carry states, some 34 percent of likely voters report carrying.
Overall, the survey determined that the percent of Americans carrying increased from 24.3 percent in December 2024 to 29.8 percent in May 2026.
As John Lott, the founder and CEO of the CPRC, is always crunching the numbers to understand how things stand and how they’re changing, he developed formulas to determine the odds that one person in a crowd at a public place that is not a “gun-free” zone is carrying. You can see his formulas at crimeresearch.org. The results are interesting.
If we assume (based on the CPRC’s statistics) that “6.3% of general election voters carry all the time and 64 percent of adults are general election voters,” then the probability that someone in a group of adults will likely be carrying a concealed handgun can be calculated.
In a group of 10 adult likely voters, there is a 33.7 percent chance someone is carrying concealed. If there are 20 people, then the odds are better than half (56 percent) that someone is lawfully carrying concealed.
According to this research, today, an incredible 20 percent of likely voters now hold a concealed handgun permit (20.2 percent), which is more than double the overall rate for adults (8 percent).
“Blacks account for 11% of likely voters, but they represent 15.9% of those who carry all or most of the time,” note the CPRC. “Hispanics also carry at disproportionately high rates, making up 18.8% of those who carry all or most of the time despite accounting for only 11% of likely voters. By contrast, whites and Asians carry at rates below their shares of likely voters. Whites make up 72% of likely voters but only 62.6% of those who carry all or most of the time, while Asians account for 4% of likely voters but just 2% of frequent carriers.”
The CPRC article on this survey calls it “interesting” that urban voters carry at high rates, but, given the increased danger in urban areas, this statistic does not seem surprising—though without all of the court and legislative wins, in part thanks to the advocacy and legal battles fought by the NRA, this would not be the case.
The CPRC survey determined that “[a]lthough urban residents make up 31.3% of likely voters, they account for 42.8% of those who carry frequently and 35.8% of those who carry sometimes or rarely… . By contrast, rural residents carry frequently at rates well below their 23.3% share of likely voters.”
The CPRC broke down those who carry by political philosophies and, as noted in the beginning of this article, found some results that might surprise New York U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D). “Very liberal and very conservative likely voters carry frequently at disproportionately high rates relative to their shares of the population,” reported the CPRC. “Very liberal voters account for 24.6% of frequent carriers even though they make up only 12.9% of likely voters. Similarly, very conservative voters account for 23% of frequent carriers while making up 18% of likely voters. Republicans also carry frequently at disproportionately high rates, while Democrats and Independents/Other carry at relatively lower rates.”
Our Second Amendment-protected freedom, of course as it should, applies equally to all American citizens—that even includes the ones who might vote against it. It is, however, interesting and good that more citizens appear to be embracing this basic human right.
Read the full article here