WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress are much better armed than their Democratic counterparts — a fact that helps explain the deep partisan divide as Congress gears up for its first major votes on gun control in a decade.

One hundred nineteen Republicans and 46 Democrats declared themselves gun owners in a USA Today survey of lawmakers.

There is no uniform public record of gun ownership by members of Congress, and it is not part of the information lawmakers are required to reveal in their annual financial-disclosure forms. So, USA Today and the Gannett Washington Bureau contacted every congressional office to ask: Does the lawmaker own a gun?

The results show a partisan — and regional — divide. Only 10percent of Republicans who responded said they do not own a gun, while 66percent of Democrats said they are not gun owners.

Michael Hammond, legislative counsel of Gun Owners of America, said he’s not surprised. In Republican districts, a gun “is a campaign accoutrement,” he said.

Plotted on a map, the survey results hint at a cultural chasm between those districts where guns are a talisman of individualism and those where guns are viewed more as a criminal tool.

Only 12 lawmakers from the Northeast, including Pennsylvania, said they own firearms, while 77 Southerners said they do.

[readon2 url=”http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/02/04/congress-gun-ownership-survey/1891191/”]Read the rest in USA Today[/readon2]