New Research Identifies Public Approval of Hunting and Target Shooting is Softening as Concerns About Gun Violence Rise

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 has declined nearly 5% since 2021, both activities remain supported by a majority of Americans. Results from a 2024 survey found that 75.7% of Americans say they approve of legal hunting. Somewhat more, 76.4% of Americans, say they approve of legal recreational shooting.

But both approval percentages were significantly lower than 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 in clearer terms, the approximate five percentage drop in support represents nearly 13 million voting-aged Americans. Concerning for surveyors was the growing number of Americans who currently approve of hunting but are becoming more negative about the activity.

The research project links growing concerns 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 of concerns; gun violence is more worrisome than food insecurity, immigration, wildlife populations, threats to the Second Amendment, and climate change, according to those that 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% (1 on 5) say that gun violence has affected their opinion of hunting a great deal or a moderate amount. Furthermore, this 20% 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% 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% (1 in 4) say that gun violence has affected their opinion a great deal or a moderate amount, and 45% 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 legal 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 (OSCF). “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 Outdoor Stewards of Conservation Foundation 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-aged Americans and loss in approval of target shooting by 8.9 million, 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.

Additionally, you can view a webinar highlighting key insights and recommendations.

Editor’s note: An easy way to start communicating a positive message about how gun owners, hunters, target shooters, and the firearms industry fund wildlife conservation is by promoting this Public Service Announcement.

About the Outdoor Industry Communication Council (OICC)

Formed around the commitment to educate all Americans about the origins of conservation funding in America, the Outdoor Industry Communication Council is powered through a multi-state conservation grant and represented by companies, wildlife agencies, professional communicators, and conservation organizations. This project is funded by the Multistate Conservation Grant Program (F23AP00404), supported with funds from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program and jointly managed by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.