This is not as simple or straightforward as it appears. This is an insidious propaganda strategy designed to keep conservatives in fear. As noted in an interview with Newt Gingrich, people on the right, people lining up for Trump, FEEL FEAR. The right WANTS them to be afraid, they PROFIT from being afraid. They are stampeding people into fear.
It doesn't matter that the actual statistics show otherwise -- they go by feeling rather than critical thinking. That is one of the defining characteristics of propaganda. It is also one of the defining characteristics of authoritarian people.
From Vox -- well worth the read!
The rise of American authoritarianismThe NRA exists to promote a right wing agenda, and has done so since an organizational takeover in 1978. It is primarily funded by gun manufacturers; this is an excellent tactic to sell more guns and ammo to people the NRA has worked overtime to frighten. It is a conclusion supported by the fact that fewer people own guns every year, but those people are increasingly tending to own many more firearms, to accumulate arsenals of ammunition, and to seek out other destructive equipment, including bombs.
A niche group of political scientists may have uncovered what's driving Donald Trump's ascent. What they found has implications that go well beyond 2016.
...MacWilliams studies authoritarianism — not actual dictators, but rather a psychological profile of individual voters that is characterized by a desire for order and a fear of outsiders. People who score high in authoritarianism, when they feel threatened, look for strong leaders who promise to take whatever action necessary to protect them from outsiders and prevent the changes they fear.
So MacWilliams naturally wondered if authoritarianism might correlate with support for Trump.
He polled a large sample of likely voters, looking for correlations between support for Trump and views that align with authoritarianism. What he found was astonishing: Not only did authoritarianism correlate, but it seemed to predict support for Trump more reliably than virtually any other indicator.
...This trend had been accelerated in recent years by demographic and economic changes such as immigration, which "activated" authoritarian tendencies, leading many Americans to seek out a strongman leader who would preserve a status quo they feel is under threat and impose order on a world they perceive as increasingly alien.