Most Americans say that self-defense is the main reason that most people purchase a firearm and almost half say it’s “too easy” to buy a gun in the United States, according to a new poll from Rasmussen Reports.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation found that Americans made more than 15 million firearms purchases last year. In a survey conducted earlier this month but released on Thursday, Rasmussen found that one in five respondents, or someone in their family, has purchased a gun in the past year.

• 20% said yes, they have or someone in their family has bought a gun in the last year.
• 72% said no, neither they nor anyone in their family has purchased a gun in the last year.
• 8% are unsure.

The poll also asked respondents to state what they think is “the main reason most people purchase a gun.”

• 65% said self-defense.
• 7% said for a criminal act.
• 3% said for job purposes.
• 17% said some other reason.
• 8% said they are not sure.

In addition, about half of those surveyed said that it is currently “too easy” to buy a gun in the United States, while less than one in five said it’s “too hard” to buy a gun.

• 49% said it’s too easy to buy a gun.
• 14% said it’s too hard to buy a gun.
• 28% said the difficulty is about right.
• 9% are unsure.

Rasmussen polled 1,243 Americans over the age of 18 across the country on April 11 and from April 14-15 with a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.

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