Americans own 423M guns & 8.1B rounds of ammunition, latest data shows

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ilbob

ilbob

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Using the most recent data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF’s) Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Export Reports (AFMER) to draw its conclusions, FITA’s report stated there are 422.9 million firearms in civilian possession from 1986 to 2018, along with an estimated 8.1 billion rounds of various firearms calibers and gauges.
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I have done my part to increase the numbers.
 
The phrasing is extremely odd:

...there are 422.9 million firearms in civilian possession from 1986 to 2018...

Are they suggesting that is the number of firearms that entered circulation during that period? It seems odd to suggest this is a number we arrived at for a 32 year period. It's just very oddly written.
 
crestoncowboy said:
And they damn sure don't know how much ammo. Even if they knew how much was sold.... how much was stored and how much was shot?
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And how many millions are reloaded each year, or millions of pounds of lead casted in to bullets. I just watched a video of a lead pellet manufacturer, not even a big one they used something like 1 million pounds a month of lead.
 
Numbers on these things are really hard to decifer. I'd call that number a guess. We do have a good numbers for new guns but beyond that it's conjecture. Safe to say at least a few hundred million in civilian hands. Half a billion would not be unrealistic.

The ATF manufacturing and importation report has numbers from 1986-2015 showing domestic production of 106 million total for non-military purchase plus another 60 million imports over the same time. Of those, about 15 million were exported so that leaves somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 million new firearms sold to civilian and law enforcement market. How many were already here in people's hands is all guesswork, but the old estimate was always said to be 40 to 300 million depending on which (often biased) source you looked at.

Guns are fairly durable goods. Sure some break, rust, or are otherwise lost or destroyed. I'd hazzard a good portion of those new guns are still in existance even if sitting in a corner of someone's closet. Given 300 million background checks over 20 years, they certainly are moving around and changing hands. I doubt many of those NICS checks were for inoperable junk.

As for ammo, last estimates I saw was 12 to 15 billions rounds domestic new production sold in US in 2016 (2.5+ billion was 22LR). Add in imports and surplus along with whatever people keep on hand or make themselves would not be shocked if the civilian supply is many 10s of billions.

https://www.atf.gov/resource-center...FjAAegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw2BJm_vnUiujZPXxRJaunH1

https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/nics_firearm_checks_-_month_year.pdf/view

https://shootingindustry.com/u-s-firearms-industry-2018/
 
illinoisburt said:
Numbers on these things are really hard to decifer. I'd call that number a guess. We do have a good numbers for new guns but beyond that it's conjecture. Safe to say at least a few hundred million in civilian hands. Half a billion would not be unrealistic.

The ATF manufacturing and importation report has numbers from 1986-2015 showing domestic production of 106 million total for non-military purchase plus another 60 million imports over the same time. Of those, about 15 million were exported so that leaves somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 million new firearms sold to civilian and law enforcement market. How many were already here in people's hands is all guesswork, but the old estimate was always said to be 40 to 300 million depending on which (often biased) source you looked at.

Guns are fairly durable goods. Sure some break, rust, or are otherwise lost or destroyed. I'd hazzard a good portion of those new guns are still in existance even if sitting in a corner of someone's closet. Given 300 million background checks over 20 years, they certainly are moving around and changing hands. I doubt many of those NICS checks were for inoperable junk.

As for ammo, last estimates I saw was 12 to 15 billions rounds domestic new production sold in US in 2016 (2.5+ billion was 22LR). Add in imports and surplus along with whatever people keep on hand or make themselves would not be shocked if the civilian supply is many 10s of billions.

https://www.atf.gov/resource-center...FjAAegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw2BJm_vnUiujZPXxRJaunH1

https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/nics_firearm_checks_-_month_year.pdf/view

https://shootingindustry.com/u-s-firearms-industry-2018/
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Thanks. That helps clarify the odd phrasing to which I referred. It's basically: " there were @ 300 million guns prior to 1986 and and about 150 million after, so let's call it 423 million to sound more precise. "

Ok. I'm good with "somewhere between 400 and 600 million" myself.
 
troy fairweather said:
And how many millions are reloaded each year,
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Agreed.
I shoot plenty. However, I load a lot more than I shoot... and I cast a lot more than I load. I guess there's no real way for anyone to guestimate with any accuracy how many rounds are reloaded in this country. I suppose they could guess by primer consumption, but I doubt it.
 
No idea how these numbers were tallied or quantified, but if they are remotely accurate, it shows an interesting trend of supply and demand. They would not be getting manufactured if they were not being sold.
 
tbs said:
Geez, I'm such a slacker. I need to get off my butt and do my part!
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Not by this article. If you have a full box of ammo (or magazine in many guns) per gun you are way ahead of the curve.

Think of it this way....if every walmart had 2 million rounds that would be the total 8 billion just in walmart inventory. Both numbers are low in the survey I believe. But I guarantee that the ammo number is low.

There are nearly 19 million concealed carry permits in the usa. That 400 rounds per carry permit....... not even 1 brick?

I just think it's way off. As in exponentially off. That or I'm more of a hoarder than I thought
 
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