How many gun owners are there?

Posted by ScaryBlackRifle 7 years, 2 months ago to Politics
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WAPO (that paragon of liberal virtue) claims that there are 265 million firearms in the possession of only 22% of US citizens. Your thoughts?
SOURCE URL: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/09/youll-never-guess-how-many-guns-average-gun-owner-has.html


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  • Posted by GaryL 7 years, 2 months ago
    "How many gun owners are there?"

    More than they will ever know!

    I will bet there are more guns in possession of the American people from long before they ever thought about registering them.
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  • Posted by strugatsky 7 years, 2 months ago
    I specifically bought several inexpensive and easy to use rifles to make them available to my neighbors in case of need. In case of need, I may be as effective as 5 or 10.
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    • Posted by VicW 7 years, 2 months ago
      Initially I like the idea but some minimal training is necessary to make this a safe practice.
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      • Posted by strugatsky 7 years, 2 months ago
        The Liberals that are buying guns now because they feel Trump's presidency is putting them in danger, although they'll never practice with it, are not a danger to Liberty. The gun will most likely never be used and in a few years turned in for a $100 shopping card. It takes more than a gun to be able to use a gun; it takes a mindset which Liberals don't have. In Orlando, the killer executed them one at the time, while talking on the phone, browsing social media sites and changing magazines. Yet, no one attacked him or otherwise tried to defend themselves. They just laid down and died. The video of the Ft. Lauderdale killer shows how people that were behind him, instead of attacking the killer from behind, just laid down and prepared to die. With that kind of a mindset, guns will not help them.
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      • Posted by $ Radio_Randy 7 years, 2 months ago
        I assume, by "minimal training" you are willing to accept an adult teaching a child (or their spouse) basic firearms safety?

        Many times, people purchase guns prior to taking a class. After all, there is nothing in the Second Amendment that stipulates either previous training or a background check to practice your right to keep and bear arms.

        I'm not saying some amount of training isn't desirable. If nothing else, safety training could save the new owner's life. I only say this to ensure that some government official can't require a prospective gun owner to take an expensive, government mandated, course (after the requisite background checks), prior to purchasing.
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        • Posted by VicW 7 years, 2 months ago
          While common sense is a complete fail for many, I would not consider government regulations. My Father taught me (at 10 years old) but he also taught firearms in the Marines. I have to respect it for what it is and what it can do. To me, that is just common sense. Government involvement will not require common sense at any level. At least, it never has yet. We have many government officials who demonstrate lack of common sense and go to work everyday.
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  • Posted by mia767ca 7 years, 2 months ago
    when they asked the Japanese Generals why they did not invade the west coast after Pear Harbor, they referred to the millions of guns in the U.S as the primary factor in staying away...
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  • Posted by KevinSchwinkendorf 7 years, 2 months ago
    Okay, I went to the article and actually read it (most of it), and some of their numbers are correct, or at least in the right ballpark. For example, they claim the total population of the USA is 319 million. I have heard elsewhere that 320 million is close, so I agree with 319. Of course, with all the illegals streaming into this country, that number is a snapshot in time; its continually increasing. They then claim that the percentage of Americans owning firearms has decreased from 25% to 22%. This figure is TOTAL FAKE NEWS! Multiplying 319 x 0.22 = 70.18. When I was in grade school (back in the 1960s), I remember hearing that there were 63 million gun owners in the country. But, back then, the total population was only around 200 million. As the years went by, that 63 million gun owners figure steadily increased (right along with the overall population). Back in the 1990s, the NRA claimed that there were over 90 million gun owners, and with all the NEW first-time gun owners who have entered the market (in response to gun control scares from both Clinton and Obama), the number of gun owners has increased to well over 100 million. Of course, we really don't know that number all that well precisely because we have no "universal" gun registration, at least that is uniform over the whole country. New Jersey probably has a better handle on how many people own guns than does the state of Alaska. Its also hard to define how many gun owners there are. For example, if a married man has a gun in his house, is his wife considered a gun owner too? Even though she may never have fired it? If they were victim of a home invasion and the husband is killed by the creep, will the wife take the gun and kill the intruder? And, of course, there are tens of millions of children (under 18) included in that 319 million Americans (how many? - 30-40 million?). Yes, some gun owners have "many" guns. Some have only 1. In any large population, there is a distribution. What numbers do I believe? I'll admit to 320 million citizens, out of which there are 30 million under 18. So, 100 million gun owners divided by (320-30=290) million adults, gives a percentage of 34%. I have also heard there are around 300 million privately-owned firearms in the country. That would imply an average number of guns per gun owner of 3 (not the 8 or so claimed in the article). The political spin of this article wants its readers to believe that sure, gun sales are way up, but its only the same gun owners who are buying ever more guns because they're paranoid over the liberal gun control agenda. The truth is that there really are many new gun owners in this country. The whole "gun community" (and industry) knows this. Firearms safety instruction, concealed-carry classes, etc., are seeing a tremendous upsurge in first-time buyers who want to train in the use of their new firearms. The "gun industry" (like any other business), wants to grow, and they have recently (in the last 10-15 years or so) discovered - WOMEN! Twenty years ago, you would NEVER see pink camo and pink gun stocks! But, girls like pink, and a lot of women have discovered that they enjoy the shooting sports (and even hunting!) just like their husbands, fathers, brothers, etc. The fact that there are many new gun owners is also supported by the recent ammunition shortages in sporting goods stores. Long-time gun owners already know how to shoot, and don't go out shooting as much. New gun owners are enthusiastic about learning to shoot for the first time, and so the demand for ammo is expanding faster than the makers can keep up.
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    • Posted by $ TomB666 7 years, 2 months ago
      Good analysis. One other thought about the 'shortage' of ammo. I read that the Feds bought up a lot of it. That made me nervous - just who are the Feds arming that they didn't arm before?
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  • Posted by NealS 7 years, 2 months ago
    Perhaps the people that do the research are big city folks. I moved to a more rural area a year ago and can't even find anyone that doesn't own several. Many carry for the protection against wildlife, or so they say. In all honesty, I did meet one person that told me he didn't own one, but wanted a recommendation on what to buy.
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  • Posted by VicW 7 years, 2 months ago
    Most states have a restriction that a gun dealer can only sell to the owner-to-be and must collect information from that person. It is prohibited to sell a gun as a gift at this point in time. A gift card is suggested by most gun dealers. If the buyer states that it will be gifted, they can be fined.
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  • Posted by $ nickursis 7 years, 2 months ago
    78% of US Citizens are going to be in real trouble when they need it. 78% of the citizens also will have a problem if someone breaks in. It also means there are an awful lot of people who have a lot of guns. Good for them.
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  • Posted by stargeezer 7 years, 2 months ago
    I have no idea where or how they arrived at this 22% quanity. Just on it's face, that seems very low and considering the source, suspect.

    The only solid percentage I can assign to that number is that 100% of my personal friends and family who can legally own guns, do own guns. The exceptions being a uncle who was involved in a moonshine problem 40 years ago and most of the kids under 12 of age.
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  • Posted by salta 7 years, 2 months ago
    Why do they think the numbers matter? They are worried about gun crime. But it seems obvious that the criminal with gun in hand does not decide to commit violence because other citizens have too many guns in their possession.
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  • Posted by bradberry1984 7 years, 2 months ago
    Yeah, I thinking that number is a bit under the actual number. I would garner an estimate of closer to 550 plus million guns. And Gun ownership did NOT decrease in 2016. I myself added a few more to my collection. I guess I would be one of those super-owners. Of course that nagging question of how many more guns can they afford to buy? Well, all I WANT! In fact Saturday I get to go pick out two new Glocks.

    We DO NOT like answering surveys and I find the type of people that do, usually do not tell the truth anyway.

    The answer to your question of as far as need goes, I don't need this many I just like guns. According to Fortune, the average "super-owner" owns 17 guns already, and here you have to ask yourself "why?" BECAUSE WE CAN and yes I have more than 17....DUH!! Heck, take my employees, alone I know that each one of them have at least 10 or more and my business is not gun related. I know in Oregon alone well over 200k were sold in 2015.

    I know for a fact in my little town that a LOT of people that have never owned a gun bought more than one in 2016. Surveys, got to hate them...
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  • Posted by Technocracy 7 years, 2 months ago
    Indeterminate.

    Fuzzy Factor #1 - How many guns are there in the US. The have squishy numbers on how many were sold in America. Squishy because that does not mean they stayed here for 1, no good numbers on guns destroyed or lost for 2, and imports from outside are not and never will be fully documented.

    Fuzzy Effect 1 - increases possible ceiling of gun owners.

    Fuzzy Factor #2 - How many gun owners have more than 1 gun. What is the norm or average count for their guns.

    Fuzzy Effect #2 - Decreases total of gun owners
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  • Posted by $ Radio_Randy 7 years, 2 months ago
    I don't know, but I once heard that every time you hear a bell ring (in the sporting goods store), a citizen gets his gun (or was it, an angel get its wings?).
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  • Posted by Owlsrayne 7 years, 2 months ago
    I doubt the veracity of this article. What really matters is that there are citizens buying guns and ammo.So long the industry is doing well with introducing new firearms and ammo to the market place everything is fine. Out there right now are 10mm handguns and 6mm bore rifles. Also, copper composite bullets, and other varieties of new style ammo. The industry is far from quiescent. I, myself am looking to purchase a Rough Rider western style revolver, a derringer, some type of rifle. I already have a variety of different handguns.
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  • Posted by unitedlc 7 years, 2 months ago
    I don't have reason to doubt these findings. I for one have 36 guns and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition. Most of the gun owners I know have many guns. I live in the extremely red state of Oklahoma, so maybe our numbers skew from other parts of the country, but from my experience, it seems to fall in line with these findings.
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    • Posted by scojohnson 7 years, 2 months ago
      The funniest joke I always make is that if I have 7 rifles, and the government takes 7 away, how many do I have? 42! I have 42 that were bought before the 'registration' laws, I lied about only having 7.

      LOL...

      As for the numbers, I would probably dispute it. While there are at least that many firearms in the country, the 'government' would only have the 'who' figures based on polling or registration databases, neither of which would be accurate. People buy them as gifts for others, NRA raffles, Ducks Unlimited gives away 20 at every dinner I've ever been to, etc. On my street of 32 homes, I know personally that at least 30 of those have (significant) firearms. Where I grew up in Minnesota, we used to carry a rifle on the gun rack in the pickup truck during deer season, it was rather ubiquitous and not anything to be concerned about. Many of my firearms were bought by my father, who normally bought his at pawn shops and was always cash-and-carry back then, so literally, only 7 have been bought since the registration laws and he probably has a couple of military rifles that went through the current system.

      Even working in an urban area of a very blue state, more than 1/5 of my coworkers have at least a handgun in the home.

      I would generally dispute the 22% very heavily. I think it would be very low, I would be surprised if below 50% actually.
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      • Posted by unitedlc 7 years, 2 months ago
        Well... let me elaborate on my comment of "I don't have reason to doubt these findings." I should have just said that it "wouldn't surprise me." I do have lots of reason to doubt statistics of any kind, since most statistics are collected to prove or disprove a point. Would I be surprised if only 22% of the US population owns firearms? No. Would I be surprised if 55% owned firearms? No. As long as gun owners don't fall for any propaganda laid out by statistical findings, then I really don't care what percentage owns guns. I've got mine, so I'm not worried. I guarantee you that nobody will ever take my guns from me while I am still breathing. That's why I have guns in the first place. ;)
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  • Posted by TheOriginalBadBob 7 years, 2 months ago
    I cannot dispute their numbers. But, where I live, we would definitely have to have more than our share of guns and owners, making up for liberal population centers elsewhere. I am certain that this 22% will be more than willing to share with like-minded folk if they deem the cause to be worthy.
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  • Posted by evlwhtguy 7 years, 2 months ago
    Gun sales have absolutely slowed down....I was in WalMart last week and for the first time in years they had .22 LR ammo. I have been in there when the shelves were literally bare. There was even .22 Short ammo....this has been extremely hard to find in the last 4 years. I would absolutely dump firearms stocks and prepare to by them back in 2 years, should the Democrats make any big gains in congressional elections.

    I would not be surprised to find out that only 22% of Americans "Actively" own guns.....By actively I mean...I am discounting the ones that have an old shotgun in the attic. Active gun owners would be those who actually shoot at least once per year.
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    • Posted by strugatsky 7 years, 2 months ago
      Actual data (based on NICs checks) shows that gun sales have beaten all previous records. The industry expected a slowdown after Trump's win, but the opposite happened. More women, liberals and gays are buying guns. Prices have not dropped. The availability of 22 ammo in Walmart is due partially to the manufacturers producing more and partially because Walmart tries to hoard stock and sell it during holidays, as that attracts more customers. Notice that cheap bulk pack are almost never found anymore, replaced by smaller, more expensive packaging.
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      • Posted by evlwhtguy 7 years, 2 months ago
        Pretty funny....the women, gays and Trannies are running out to buy guns to protect themselves against all us racist misogynistic homophobic conservatives....who have been fighting for years to protect their rights to own those very firearms.
        Hopefully you are correct about the manufacturers getting geared up finally....it sure took long enough!

        I still would be surprised if the 22% figure was not true. [Based on my parameters]
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        • Posted by KevinSchwinkendorf 7 years, 2 months ago
          I think the manufacturers were reluctant to gear up to higher production rates because they feared the upsurge in demand was short-term. They know their history too. Whole companies have gone bankrupt because they geared up for wartime demand (military contracts), and then after the war was over, not only did the military demand decrease, but war surplus further depressed the civilian market. This happened to Sharps after the Civil War, and Winchester after World War I. (The original Winchester Repeating Arms Company founded by Oliver Winchester in 1866 eventually went bankrupt in 1931 and was bought by Western Cartridge and eventually became "a division of Olin Corporation.") But, with all the new gun owners, the baseline demand is now higher (reliably), so it appears production rates are up. I have seen .22 LR ammo locally here in Sportsman's Warehouse a lot more too.
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          • Posted by evlwhtguy 7 years, 2 months ago
            You are probably correct, I used to call on a weaving company and they made Checkered table cloths. The geared up and made a bunch of green and white and all the orders that came in were for Blue and white....it killed them! The company survived but they had to take on a bunch of investors and the original partners ended up as employees. That is one step away from being out the door...which usually takes about 18 to 24 months!
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        • Posted by strugatsky 7 years, 2 months ago
          I am actually Ok with some of the Liberals buying guns. If they also train with them at a range, I believe that they will loose they hoplohobia and may start reeling in toward the center. Just my hope. The ones that do not train and just keep a gun in a closet or a safe are not a threat to liberty, as they will not know which end to hold. As to the number of gun owners - I think the polls are as far off as predicting the next president.
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          • Posted by evlwhtguy 7 years, 2 months ago
            It is never a problem, for when any human starts to rely on himself rather than others [the state for instance] he then becomes infected with the idea of self sufficiency and liberty. It is a sure path away from "The road to serfdom". Something like buying a firearm and training at the range will be the first prick allowing entry of the Bacillum...Freedom...to enter.
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  • Posted by Zenphamy 7 years, 2 months ago
    BS. They have no idea of the numbers of gun owners or guns. The real question is where are they trying to take the conversation by estimating such low numbers.
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    • Posted by strugatsky 7 years, 2 months ago
      Let them estimate low. When Bloomberg and co make a plan, they budget X $'s per vote that they plan on overturning. This way they'll spend millions, but it won't be enough, so they'll fail.
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  • Posted by $ jlc 7 years, 2 months ago
    Well, the key to this article is the Harvard/Northwestern study. If that study is inaccurate, there are correspondingly more or less guns and/or gun owners.

    I suspect that, like Heinleinian anarchists there are 'big mouthed gun owners' and 'small mouthed gun owners' (not sure if I am paraphrasing Heinlein accurately - corrections welcome); it is going to be a lot easier to count the former than the latter.

    Jan
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  • Posted by freedomforall 7 years, 2 months ago
    imo, most of the firearm innovation comes from smaller companies that sell more expensive and custom weapons. A downturn in the fear of confiscation under Trump will affect the big weapon companies more than the small innovators where most R & D is done.
    (Just my opinion.)
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