Total # of semi-auto rifles in the USA?

Millions. Literally millions.

Apparently it doubled last week

Educated guesstimate?

Probably in the neighborhood of 50-150 million.

There's 300 million people in the USA. I've got myself and several others covered, if the goal is one each (on average).

Millions and millions---and more being bought every hour.

If that doesn't fit the "in common use at the time" bit, nothing will.

Eh. Doesn't seem like they'd have too good of a reason to jack with numbers like that.

A rifle behind every blade of grass.......

seems Yamamoto was correct.

The last numbers I heard were that there were around 270,000,000 privately owned firearms in America. Now we can probably assume that around 1/3 of them are handguns and perhaps 2/3's of those are automatics.

As far as long guns go, there are still a buttload of hunting rifles, shotguns, .22's and bolt action milsurps out there. I would guess that military style semi-autos are probably around 20% of the rifles.

So if we start with 270,000,000 guns and figure that half are probably handguns or shotguns, we're down to 135,000,000 rifles. If 20% are EBR's of some variety, we're talking about 27,000,000 of them in circulation.

we're talking about 27,000,000 of them in circulation.

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Crap! I only have 5 of them.

well, now, there are about 90 million people who own 270 million guns. That means about half of the adult population owns a number of guns that nearly matches the number of US citizens.

Given the surge in sales, I'd wager that by 2010 there will be a good 30+ million rifles out there that have at least two of the features.

Pardon the naive, frank question, but IF Obama were foolish enough (and he is politically-so far-very smart) to pursue another AWB, which politically damaged both Clinton and Gore due to 'wasted political capital', would it hurt mostly gun business owners or individuals who don't already have some of these?

I was 'asleep' during the AWB in the 90's (Rip Van Winkle), knew nothing (just ask my wife...) about it, owned just a .22 and used it once during a twenty four year span.
Speaking of the word 'wife', be really careful if your request to 'call your cell phone' about 'ammo shipping policy to a friend' requires your e-mail address. They will ignore it and send an e-mail to your home....read by your wife while you are gone.

Mini 14/30, two MN 44s, SKS.
Wish I also had two more SKS, AKs or Saigas, just to invest and gladly spite the 'far-left' Frank(enstein)/Pelosi/Biden etc
out of sheer unbridled contempt.

And with all those millions of evil guns, the demoplicans still think they can pass an AWB even stricter than the first one.

I wonder what the congress-critters would think if a million man march descended on Washington D.C. all carrying their firearms?
It would be a peaceful march, of course.

My wife, covering her frozen blade of grass:

I wonder what the congress-critters would think if a million man march descended on Washington D.C. all carrying their firearms?

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Here's your answer: Bonus March.

The marchers would be met far from DC by the 82nd Airborne and many, many Marines. Those in DC, by whatever means, would likely be shot by DC police or helicopter gunships.

Remember, the Bonus Marchers were unarmed and MacArthur was unleashed upon them.

I like the idea. A million gun owners descend on Washington to protest a new AWB, if / when it comes about.

I would definitely leave the guns at home someone will get stupid and the government would be ready..

Pardon the naive, frank question, but IF Obama were foolish enough (and he is politically-so far-very smart) to pursue another AWB, which politically damaged both Clinton and Gore due to 'wasted political capital', would it hurt mostly gun business owners or individuals who don't already have some of these?

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Obama won't be the one pushing for it; some liberal incumbent with nothing else to do will.

But, the ban will pretty much hurt gun owners and business the same way the machine gun freeze did; it'll make them very profitable for ten or so years before the demand drops and no one wants them other than those who simply like the guns for personal and sentimental sake. If anything, business will love the ban because it will give them a good reason to increase prices by 50% and still sell everything off in a week.

And yes, it will hurt you if you don't already have pne, because you'll either have to pay alot of money to get one, or worse: you won't be able to at all.

Well I have myself and at least a squad sized element covered.

Garands,

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Since when are Garands EBR's?

we're talking about 27,000,000 of them in circulation.

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Come to think of it, that's probably closer to accurate than my estimate of 50-150M. I'd say 25-75 million, probably.

Since when are Garands EBR's?

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Why not, the M1 Carbine is, the Garand (and everything else) wouldn't be too far behind.

I like the idea. A million gun owners descend on Washington to protest a new AWB, if / when it comes about.

I would definitely leave the guns at home someone will get stupid and the government would be ready..

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Your right. I have to keep reminding myself there are some real village idiots out there that own guns. Fortunately, I don't know any personally.



Million Man Gun-Owner's March...okay.
Please leave all firearms at home or far away from the march.

How about a 20 million man march? I wish America cared enough about the Constitution for that.

I wonder what it would look like from space...

Kind of Blue, I imagine most gun owners gotta be at work, instead of marching.

Another dab of guesstimates: Back during the run-up to GCA '68, it was estimated that there easily could be some 200 million personal firearms in the U.S. It was also estimated that some 40% of all homes had at least one firearm.

BATF records from 1993 on (I last checked this in 2003) showed ten years of some five million per year in new firearms into the U.S. market. Given the reaction to Clinton's AW ban, I'd bet that the percentage of sales for EBRs increased notably.

I have read that this year, NICS has checked some 7.8 million buyers.

Adding to subject, in terms of public behavior: We know that the number of training schools has increased a lot during these last dozen or so years. I'm curious as to increases in the numbers of schools in the last couple of years, and the increase in the number of students, this year.