The Washington Post’s Wonkblog says the NRA may be out of step with a majority of gun-owners in its position to oppose any new gun-control measures. For proof, the writers used a December 2011 gun-related survey by YouGov that interviewed 45,000 Americans. It found that about 35 percent of Americans had a gun in their house, lower than in some surveys. About 7 percent of this sample reported being an NRA member. Among gun owners, the number was 24 percent.
Broadly, the survey found that NRA members were more likely to support gun control measures. But the Post writers said, “What these poll results show is that the coalitional politics of gun control is more complex than you might think after (the NRA’s Wayne) LaPierre's speech. This is not a world with gun owners on one side and those who do not own guns on the other. Two of the policies most discussed in the wake of the Newtown shootings—a ban on assault weapons and a limit on the size of magazines—will attract support not only from those who don't have a gun in their house but from those who do, especially if the gun isn't theirs and also if the gun is theirs but they are not NRA members. Gun owners do not speak with one voice about gun control, and, for many gun owners, Wayne LaPierre does not appear to speak for them.”