Number of Americans who Own Guns and the Number of Guns owned by Americans

[Aragorn243]

The NRA posted a meme on Facebook yesterday that stated that there are 400 million guns owned by Americans. This was some sort of new milestone. Got me thinking bit so figured I'd check on the numbers.

Not sure how anyone comes up with either number.

Answers says this: Number of guns and gun owners in USA. Most estimates range between 39% and 50% of US households having at least one gun (that's about 43-55 million households). The estimates for the number of privately owned guns range from 190 million to 300 million. Removed those that skew the stats for their own purposes the best estimates are about 45% or 52 million of American households owning 260 million guns).

Which seems to indicate the NRA's numbers are way high.

NPR estimates about 300 million guns or one gun per every man, woman and child in the United states whichever is higher?

One website claimed only about 21% of households owned guns with 50% of them owning one or two and the other 50% owning three or more. 3% were considered super owners and this group owned over 50% of all firearms in the country.

Somehow, I don't think any of these numbers are right although as being a gun owner, my perspective may be skewed. I also would be considered a super owner as I suspect many here in these forums would be.

The thing is, nearly every person I know that owns a firearm owns more than three. If I had to average it out, I'd say the average would be between six and ten per household and that's discounting so called super owners.

Granted I live in a suburban/rural area and hang with people of my own hobbies but just can't see these numbers being accurate.

If only 1 in 3 own guns and there are more guns than people, each of those 3 people has to own 3 guns and there is zero accountability for those that own over 100.

Or am I overthinking this?

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[rcathey]

Well,

I don't know if this helps you any but I'll give you a little rundown of the people in my life:

1. Me: My collection is specifically US military and is relatively complete. I own less than the "super owner" but not by much.
2. Coworker: Not a gun guy at all (he deer hunts with "one with a lever") but pretty avid hunter and has more guns than I could count on the couple times I've been to his place. Probably a "3X Super Owner."
3. ULTRA violently liberal best friend: Doesn't shoot, doesn't carry, owns a Mossberg 500 and a little break action 32. Ol' boy is pretty good at breaking clays whenever I get him out there though!

I suppose my point is this: I'm not really a gun guy (I like them but it's more about the history - you won't see any NRA or Molon Labe stickers anywhere near me), my coworker isn't a gun guy, and my friend is DEFINITELY not a gun guy...but on average, we own something like 12-15 guns each.

[USGI]

Or am I overthinking this?

I think so. I tend to believe the NRA - Bob

[enfield303t]

I would guess the number to be close as there's no reason to not believe the number. When Obama and his ilk threatened gun ownership US citizen bought countless. I remember reading one dealer sold 30,000 AR's in 7 days. Hats off to all you that bought one or more.

Here in Canada we have far more than our gov't ever admitted and when the registry was introduced they kept reducing their estimates in an attempt to show compliance. The problem being their original numbers were anything but accurate.

[Tom in N.J.]

I saw a report by the anti-gun forces in New Jersey that stated only Hawaii had less guns per capita than New Jersey , and that they intended to take the number one place. Another source stated they used gun registrations for the data.. be advised the only registration, by law, in NJ is a voluntary one, and does not reflect the actual number of guns owned.

[Lee Enfield]

I'm pretty sure that the NRA number is low.

From my own experience of dealing with people...in "Khanadeh", at the height of registration, we had roughly 10% (3 million) of the population licenced as gun owners, and 6 million guns in the system.

surprisingly?
estimates based on imports suggest 30+ million firearms imported to Canada in the last 40 years, but only 6 million were ever registered.

Talking to the "average" khanadian, most of them deny owning guns, and do not consider themselves to be gun owners.

However when you actually speak with them, more often than not, they own a 2-3 guns (minimum) .22 rifle, 12 gauge shotgun and a large bore rifle.
And they never registered them either...


What is really surprising is how many have grandpa's handgun, or uncle john's luger....sure it was registered to grandpa...(who sadly passed in 1970...)

[rcathey]

I don’t think I made my point clear but Lee Enfield really hit on it.
If someone asked me if I was a gun owner (especially someone with a clipboard) I would say no.
So I suppose I’m saying that I would guess most estimates to be very much on the low side.

[Aragorn243]

Some places are trying to get people to admit to their doctors that they have guns. I've always told everyone in my family to say no or if not comfortable with that just say it's none of their business as it has nothing to do with the case of the flu I'm there for today. I also don't broadcast that I have guns. Try to get them in and out of the house quickly and without drawing attention to them. I do talk about them here but to be frank, if a background check wasn't done on the purchase, even you guys aren't hearing about it unless it's something really out of the ordinary. I know there has to be a finite number of guns and they are countable. But some of these studies take into account wear and tear and breakage and put figures as high as 10% when I think most of us here understand that a firearm is pretty hard to take out of commission completely due to breakage.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

Or am I overthinking this?

Probably.
But it is an interesting exercise and your logic seems sound. I am just glad accurate numbers do not exist because if they did the number could diminish rapidly.
Glad the second amendment is still standing.

[Faulkner]

. . . . I suppose my point is this: I'm not really a gun guy (I like them but it's more about the history - you won't see any NRA or Molon Labe stickers anywhere near me), my coworker isn't a gun guy, and my friend is DEFINITELY not a gun guy...but on average, we own something like 12-15 guns each.

I would agree that there are a lot of households that are occupied by folks who are NOT "gun people" that still have 2 or 3 or 4 guns in them. In a lot of cases it's granddads old shotgun that was handed down and the odd assortment of deer rifles that have not been used in decades.