How many US gun owners?

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jim in Anchorage

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I heard a anti say"hopefully all those people that own guns will shoot each other" What would be a rough estimate of the number of people this compassionate,caring,enlightened liberal "hopes" get shot?
 
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_gun_owners_are_there_in_the_United_States_of_America

Most estimates range between 39% and 50% of US households having at least one gun(thats 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 thier own purposes the best estimates are about 45% or 52 million of american households owning 260 million guns).
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The question is, how many are out there illegal?
 
Also, remember nearly 50% of gun owners voted for Obama, and among those involved in the recent panic, it is probably even higher.

Just because you are a gun owner does not make you a friend of the right to keep and bear arms.
 
The question is, how many are out there illegal?
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Huh... why is that the question?

Unknown/unrecorded isn't necessarily illegal. Even in CA it is perfectly legal to have guns (handguns and rifles) that have no paperwork. You can't make, buy, or import one TODAY without the recordkeeping but there are millions of perfectly legal guns that predate the new laws.
 
I heard a anti say"hopefully all those people that own guns will shoot each other" What would be a rough estimate of the number of people this compassionate,caring,enlightened liberal "hopes" get shot?
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Isn't that why they want to ban guns so people won't do that? Liberals I tell ya.
 
The question is, how many are out there illegal?
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I don't have an exact number for you but it is a vast minority. There are many conflicting figures depending on the bias of the study. I do know this for certain... Most guns in America are legit, and most gun owners in America are decent people. I would estimate that illegal guns make up a low, single digit percentage of all guns in the US. The majority of which were likely stolen from law-abiding citizens.
 
The question is, how many are out there illegal?
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What does that question even mean?

You're playing the anti word game of using a word but not defining it, so you can make it mean whatever you want it to and let people make any assumption they want.

Very very few guns in this country are originally "illegal". Nearly all are lawfully manufactured and sold. This country has practically no history of arms being smuggled into the country for resale. Very very rare, extraordinarily rare.

So what does "illegal" mean if they were all originally manufactured and sold according to the law?

Is a stolen gun "illegal"? No, it's stolen property, but it came into existence in a legal way. If it were to be recovered by the police it is the property of the owner from whom it was stolen. Hardly "illegal".

An AR15 bought legally in one state and smuggled into a state with a ban. Illegal gun? Eh, illegal possession maybe, the gun would be legal else where.

Straw purchases, are those "illegal" guns? Well since they were sold to someone who met all the legal requirements for purchase then no, those can't be "illegal" guns either. The purchaser may a criminal but, again, the gun came into being in a legal manner.

A homemade gun? Well, those are legal too.

Maybe a non NFA automatic weapon, maybe a sawed off shotgun or rifle that's not in the NFA books. VERY rare things.

So what is an "illegal" gun?

That term is meaningless and used to confuse discussions like this.

So an honest answer to your question, without any BS, is that there are almost no illegal guns in this country.
 
One point that ought to be made before this thread too is closed. In December of 08 alone 1,500,000,000 rounds of ammo where purchased by the American public. Yes that is billion

jj
 
I thought it was a regional way to say"politics"

Dirty word around here:scrutiny: sign of the times I guess.

However you might tell your friend that there was enough ammo purchased in December alone to shoot every American 4 + times. How much ammo would be left for all the years before is anyones guess:D Trust your government but keep your powder dry:what:

jj
 
"Pollytick"- the bug the moderator gets in his ear just before he nukes your thread.:neener:

jj
 
However you might tell your friend that there was enough ammo purchased in December alone to shoot every American 4 + times. How much ammo would be left for all the years before is anyones guess Trust your government but keep your powder dry
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No Friend. Her opinion on everything is as nutty as that one. Lives in Settle. Go figure.
 
In December of 08 alone 1,500,000,000 rounds of ammo where purchased by the American public
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Is that a real total or just SWAG? I have been looking for an estimate but haven't been able to find one just on the guns sold.
 
Tell her anyway, a good dose of fear has turned many a liberal into raveing conservatives:D:D:scrutiny: She will be out buying a gun the next day.

I wish I could tell you a good true story about a liberal and a conservative news people. The thread won't last that long but the story really points out the hipocracy of the world today.

jj
 
Tell her anyway, a good dose of fear has turned many a liberal into raveing conservatives She will be out buying a gun the next day.

I wish I could tell you a good true story about a liberal and a conservative news people. The thread won't last that long but the story really points out the hipocracy of the world today.
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Its a lost cause. Professional liberal. Fence siters I can work with.
 
Jim in anchorage, Better yet hope he is never in need of someone to come to his assistance who carries.Maybe we will all have shot ourselves by then. LOL!!!!
 
To actually answer the OP's question, I'll quote from the National Institute of Justice's briefing from the "National Survey on Private Ownership and Use of Firearms." The point of their study was not to provide an estimate of an actual number of firearms, but rather to find out more about the people who own them. They repeat the often-cited estimate of "nearly 200 million" and then say this:

According to conventional wisdom, about half of American households own guns, a belief affirmed by a long series of national polls dating back to 1959. [Footnote 1] Yet data from the 1994 telephone survey (National Survey of Private Ownership of Firearms—NSPOF) indicate that just 35 percent (plus or minus 1.3 percent) of households own guns. This estimate may be somewhat off the mark but not by much. Conventional wisdom appears out of date.

The best available survey series on gun ownership is the General Social Survey (GSS), conducted by the National Opinion Research Center. Its estimates have been lower than some others, in the range of 40 to 43 percent during the 1990s. In particular, the GSS estimate for 1994 was just 41 percent. Another telephone survey in 1994 produced a still lower estimate for gun ownership, 38 percent of households. [Footnote 2]

Despite enough guns in private hands to provide every adult in America with one, only one-quarter of adults actually own firearms. Those who have one gun usually have several: 74 percent possessed two or more in 1994.

Gun ownership is quite concentrated but not more so than for other durable goods. In marketing circles, the "80/20 rule" suggests that the top fifth of all consumers of a product typically account for four-fifths of all purchases by value. NSPOF data indicate that the top 20 percent of firearm owners possessed 55 percent of privately owned firearms. [Footnote 3] Of gun owners in 1994, 10 million individuals owned 105 million guns, while the remaining 87 million guns were dispersed among 34 million other owners.
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