Guilt By Association: Public Support for Hunting and Target Shooting Take a Hit

By Andrew McKean, Jim Curcuruto, Jon Gassett

New research shows declining support for hunting and target/sport shooting among the general population. A primary reason for that is concern over gun violence is high and folks are increasingly associating activities such as legal, regulated deer hunting and recreational trap shooting with illegal gun violence.

The findings confirm the need to present hunting and recreational shooting in a more value-positive context to a broad audience, say conservation leaders who commissioned the survey.

 

While national approval for hunting and target shooting have declined nearly five percent since 2021, both activities remain supported by a majority of Americans. Results from a 2024 survey found that 75.7 percent of Americans say they approve of legal hunting. Somewhat more — 76.4 percent of Americans — say they approve of legal recreational shooting.

But both approval percentages were significantly lower than were recorded in 2021, when 80.8 percent of Americans said they support legal hunting and 81.0 percent said they support recreational shooting. To put it in clearer terms, the approximate five percentage drop in support represents nearly 13 million voting-aged Americans. Particularly concerning was the growing number of Americans who currently approve of hunting but are becoming more negative about the activity.

The research project links growing concern over gun violence in America with the declining approval for hunting and target shooting, in other words, gun owners, hunters and target shooters are guilty by association.

Survey respondents ranked concern about gun violence second in a list of societal concerns. Only affordable housing ranked higher in the list. Gun violence is more worrisome than food insecurity, immigration, wildlife populations, threats to the Second Amendment, or climate change, according to those who participated in the study.

The project confirmed that concern about gun violence strongly influences approval of hunting and sport shooting. A substantial percentage of Americans have had their opinion on hunting affected by gun violence: 20 percent (1 in 5) say that gun violence has affected their opinion of hunting a great deal or a moderate amount. Furthermore, that 20 percent of the general population are more likely than any other demographic or attitudinal group to have become more negative about hunting and sport shooting in recent years.

Adding in those whose opinion has been affected slightly less, 33 percent of Americans have had their opinion of hunting affected to some degree by gun violence, according to survey responses.

Likewise, a substantial percentage of Americans have had their opinion on sport shooting affected by gun violence. Overall, 26 percent (1 in 4) say that gun violence has affected their opinion a great deal or a moderate amount, and 45 percent of Americans have had their opinion of sport shooting affected to some degree by gun violence.

Because firearms are central to both legal hunting and recreational shooting, the souring national mood is concerning as public policies and ballot initiatives around guns and gun ownership could affect hunters’ and shooters’ ability to continue to participate in their activities.

“There has been widespread agreement that the outdoor community should do everything in its power to maintain and increase cultural acceptance for hunting and target shooting,” says Jim Curcuruto, executive director of Outdoor Stewards of Conservation Foundation. “But agreement and action are two different things. The time for talk is over. Action, in the form of communicating to the general population about the merits of responsible firearms use, is the best way to improve cultural acceptance. When do you ever see a pro-hunting or target shooting message in the popular media? It’s on us to change that.”

The OSCF was among the first to identify the drop in cultural acceptance of hunting and recreational shooting, and then to quantify the magnitude of the decline. In 2023, OSCF released “Americans’ Attitudes Toward Legal Regulated Fishing, Target Shooting, Hunting, and Trapping” report. That effort measured a loss of approval of hunting by some 9.9 million voting-age Americans and loss in approval of target shooting by 8.9 million folks. And, as noted earlier, the loss in cultural acceptance continues to rise.

Peter Churchbourne, Managing Director of NRA Hunting, Conservation and Range Division, and Chair of OSCF’s board, said Outdoor Stewards report offers guidance on how to slow the rate of disapproval of hunting and target shooting.

“The most common reason for becoming more negative about sport shooting is that it’s perceived that firearms are linked to violence,” says Churchbourne. “The most important thing the hunting and recreational shooting community can do is to address this guilt by association. It’s the epicenter of the study.”

Among the specific points hunters and the hunting industry can address and correct:

• Break the incorrect and harmful narrative that because hunters use guns that hunting equals violence.
• Emphasize legal hunting as a key component of wildlife management.
• Emphasize hunters’ role in funding wildlife conservation.
• Emphasize that hunting is regulated specifically to ensure that wildlife populations remain stable and healthy.

Among the specific points target shooters and the firearms industry can address:

• Emphasize safety, and stress that people (including non-shooters) are safer when people are trained to use firearms properly.
• Communicate that recreational shooters help fund wildlife conservation through their purchases of guns and ammunition.

Both Churchbourne and Curcuruto noted some simple practices that hunters and recreational shooters can do to avoid further alienating people who don’t have a cultural connection to or context for hunting or target shooting. This includes:

• Curating social media posts to ensure that depictions of hunting reflect hunters’ respect for wildlife.
• Promoting the wider societal benefits of hunting, including stewardship of landscapes and public resources.
• Improving habitat, cleaning up trash and leaving nature better than you found it.
• Sharing wild game with friends, neighbors and co-workers as well as donating extra harvest to help those less fortunate.
• Making our activities known to our social networks and beyond. Disapproval of hunting and target shooting is much lower when a someone personally knows a hunter or target shooter.

The decline in approval of hunting and target shooting “is a new phenomenon,” says Curcuruto. “It’s only been a couple of years that we have lost these millions of supporters. We can win them back with positive messages. But if we want to win the cultural acceptance battle, we must start communicating outside the choir as soon as possible.”

Outdoor Stewards “Increasing Cultural Acceptance for Hunting and Target Shooting” research was funded by a multistate conservation grant administered by the USFWS Office of Conservation Information and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. The reports (Executive Summary and Full Report) are available, free of charge here.

Additionally, a webinar highlighting key insights and recommendations is available here.