Gun ownership in the US is actually declining, but the most ardent chunk of those owners own more guns. Like, ridiculous numbers of guns (http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/31/politics/gun-ownership-declining/index.html). The NRA and other paranoia-mongers make their money telling this relatively small chunk of people that their guns are going to be taken away from them by the government, that some unspecified catastrophe is coming, that the only solution is to stock up on more guns. Then they throw out more smoke and mirrors to pretend they represent some majority of the population in order to use that "leverage" on politicians, which...push comes to shove, there's a fair chance that leverage isn't quite so powerful.