We explore patterns and correlates of gun ownership in the United States, with a special focus on differentiating those who will never own a gun from those who are open to ownership in the future. We do this by reporting on results from two national surveys. First, we use the Pew Research Center's American Trends Panel, waves 25 and 26 (overall n=3,930) collected in early 2017, and compare three categories --current gun owners ("owners"), non-owners ("nevers"), and non-owners who are willing to consider acquiring firearms in the future ("maybes"). We then extend this work by incorporating analysis from the Guns in American Life Survey (GALS, n=3,108 with an oversample of gun owners), collected in September of 2018. The ownership categories in GALS include: current owners, likely owners, maybe owners, and never owners. We approach our research question with a generational lens and investigated the role of several classes of factors in shaping their experiences and attitudes. We hypothesize that, compared to the never owners, "maybes" are more socialized into gun culture, more fearful, do not believe gun owners are stigmatized, are farther along with enacting self-protection measures (preparedness), more likely to justify occasional violence, and less trusting of the police. Descriptive findings suggest that "maybes" are similar to owners in some ways (e.g., tending to be white, Republican, and southern) but also more like non-owners in other ways (e.g., college educated). Preliminary regression results using PEW data indicate that in addition to tending to be Millennials, the maybes are people who have had direct contact with guns already, do not think gun violence is a problem, and see less negative stigma in their communities against guns. Importantly, they are not more fearful or less trusting than those who will never own a gun. Preliminary regression results using GALS data indicate that those who might buy a gun in the future have already taken steps to protect themselves, believe that violence is sometimes necessary, and have less trust in the police. Our findings contribute to contemporary understanding of possible future gun owners and are discussed using a cultural toolkit framework. Neoliberal and individualized unsettled culture translates into strategies of action with defensive postures around gun ownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]