How many guns are there REALLY in America?

There is no telling! Always room for a few more here though!

Queen_of_Thunder said:

70 million gun owners with just one 50 round box of ammo means 3.5 trillion rounds of ammo out there.

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Since when is billion spelled with a "t"?
Each owner would need 50,000 rounds of ammo to reach the 3.5 trillion mark.


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I hear that there are between 70-80 million gun owners in the US.

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I'm pretty sure we have that many in Texas alone. And of all the gun owners I know, none owns fewer than 4...and most far more.
That is only taking law abiding citizens into account. Add the criminals and the illegals and...who knows?

Fella's;

"Each owner would need 50,000 rounds of ammo to reach the 3.5 trillion mark."

Yeah, so? Why do you think that's an unreasonable number for an individual to own? Admittedly, not all owners will have that many, but many will have much more. Just because you don't, and don't know anybody who will admit to that much, doesn't mean that every blade of grass isn't hiding a bullet as it were.

Or: How to cause cold sweats in Washington 101.

900F

God bless America

The ~300 million sounds about right to me.

I read this in a USA Today article this morning; about 20% of gun owners possess 65% of the nation's guns, according to a 2006 Harvard study. That doesn't help with the overall figure. I can't imagine it's correct. I don't know anyone that owns only one firearm. At a minimum it's usually one each of pistol/rifle/shotgun. And almost always a lot more.

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Why doesn't it sound right? Remember, those of us on THR are not representative of average gun owners.

20% of 80 million gun owners is 16 million people. 65% of 300 million guns is 195 million firearms. That means the average for the other 80% is about 2 guns each, and the average for the 20% is about 12 guns each (probably about the average of THR members). Break it down further, and a small percentage of the 20% owns a majority of those ~195 million guns. I'm not going to divulge exactly how many I have, but suffice to say I'm one of those who really skews the average numbers of the smaller percentage who own most of the guns. And there are still people who have many, many more than I do.

Gary Kleck got his estimate from ATF and a few other places.

His 1997 book 'Targeting Guns' has table 3.1 "Size of the US Civilian Gun Stock' starting at about 47 million for 1899 - 1945, and showing yearly increments through 1994, which ended at about 235 million.

Later info is available from ATF stats at Annual Firearms Manufacturers And Export Report, 1998 - 2010.

The big problem is a lot of people that own a number of guns have enough sense to report a low number on surveys. That way when they do come for our guns we can hand them that old Winchester model 1911 12 Gauge "Widow Maker" and that el cheapo Rohm .22 revolver. As to people that own few or no guns, I know a few, they are not neccessarily anti gun people either, off hand I can think of 2 fairly close friends that fall into this category, one has no guns, and has not for years, which is somewhat strange since he is somewhat paranoid about self defense and spent many years of his life studying martial arts. Then again I would not want to break into his house even with a gun and him having a sword, staff, etc. The other one owns 1 old .38 revolver (Colt Police Positive I think), and occasionally talks about needing to buy another gun, but can't justify spending the money on it when there are other things he thinks he needs to buy first. Many though seem to fall into the 3-4 guns in the family group, I even have a nephew that is a bit of a gun nut that only owns maybe 5 or 6 guns, of course in his case they are almost all black rifles and the cheapest one was probably in the $800 range.

CB900F said:

Fella's;

"Each owner would need 50,000 rounds of ammo to reach the 3.5 trillion mark."

Yeah, so? Why do you think that's an unreasonable number for an individual to own? Admittedly, not all owners will have that many, but many will have much more. Just because you don't, and don't know anybody who will admit to that much, doesn't mean that every blade of grass isn't hiding a bullet as it were.

Or: How to cause cold sweats in Washington 101.

900F

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When did I say it's an unreasonable number? And when did I say how much I own? Don't directly quote me and then add in a bunch of things I didn't say or imply in your rebuttal.


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I would think a lot more. Many people have guns but don't want to share that information with the public. I certainly would not answer the question for any survey or even online. If pressed, I have enough, but desire more.

Queen_of_Thunder said:

70 million gun owners with just one 50 round box of ammo means 3.5 billion rounds of ammo out there.

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Fixed it for you.....

LNK

I think there used to be a lot more, before all those tragic boating accidents.

Watch the first 29 seconds!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni6OwFBY2RQ

When the founding fathers wrote the constitution, I think it is fair to assume that at least more then 3/4 of the male population had a firearm.
How many people do you know today who do not have even one gun!
The point is, looking at the federal government and how they act, there are not enough guns owned by the people.

What guns.....I don't own any guns.....

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This

Many people have guns but don't want to share that information with the public. I certainly would not answer the question for any survey or even online.

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This

I think there used to be a lot more, before all those tragic boating accidents.

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Plus this

There is no gun registration in WI, there are records of guns I've purchased new from stores but no proof that I still own them or that they even still exist.

Remember, those of us on THR are not representative of average gun owners.

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I, too, think that most people on The High Road would be classified as "enthusiast".

Many people have just one gun. Think of the time they save!

I see we have arrived at the point where the most witty and creative of our members have pulled out the always entertaining and and clever lines about not owning any guns or having lost them in boating accidents.

Please PM me as soon as possible so I can disable your account as being a member of this forum likely compromises your brilliant plan to evade detection.

I see we have arrived at the point where the most witty and creative of our members have pulled out the always entertaining and and clever lines about not owning any guns or having lost them in boating accidents.

Please PM me as soon as possible so I can disable your account as being a member of this forum likely compromises your brilliant plan to evade detection.

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ROTFL

Dragon;

You need to expand your horizons. And, I'll speak as I damn well please.

900F

My opinion - Waaaay more than 290 million. Considering I know of no one owning only one and few people who don't own any and then there's the vast floating inventory in the hands of sellers.

Imagine how any Garands alone.

Testy today aren't we Jorg? I didn't know about the Yamamoto quote being debunked but I'll take your word for it. Do you still believe he was opposed to a) going to war with the US because of vast industrial capacity and b) opposed to an invasion of the mainland (partly) because of civilian resistance?

Check out this poll from over 2 years ago. It is interesting and says a lot about how many guns we (THR members) own.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=539485&highlight=poll+how+many+guns

I've most often hear 270-290 million, with a yearly influx of 4 million.

Guns? What guns? I don't own no stinkin guns.

Just my $.02, I think whatever survey you look at it is going to be on the low side.

As a reference, there are 254 million registered vehicles in the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_vehicles_in_the_United_States

It seems there are more guns than vehicles. That's not a bad thing, just a way to picture how many there are.

Of the people I know who own guns, only two of them have one single gun. The rest have more than one, in some cases considerably more than one.

As we know, guns have different uses, much like golf clubs or fishing poles have different uses. Different course conditions, different type of fishing, etc.

So, depending on what reason a person has for owning guns, they most likely have more than one. I don't know the average, and I'm not about to say on a public forum how many guns are owned by me and my friends.

When I get asked that question, I answer "More than I need, but not as many as I would like" which usually gets puzzled looks and a change of subject.