90 guns per 100 people POLL

[MyRoad]

There's a lot of talk about the article stating that in the U.S. there are "90 guns for every 100 people". That sounds like 9 out of every ten Americans owns a gun. If that were true, we would have a pretty unbeatable political balance. My contention is that 1 in 10 Americans owns 9 guns... or something closer to that, making gun owners (voting-wise) only 1 in 10 in terms of total population.

So, here's a poll -- nice and anonymous -- how many guns do you own? This is rifles and handguns combined, which I'm assuming was the case with the 90/100 statistic.

 

[Mrs. Hoppes]

Where is the poll?

And we own one with plans to get more as finances allow.

 

[MyRoad]

Where is the poll?

Took me a minute to get it online... just the way the system works that I had to put the post up first and then got the option to fill in the poll....

 

[USAFNoDAk]

Also, don't the "studies" suggest that there are about 80 million or so gun owners in the US but close to 300 million guns. If we have a population just over 300 million, that means we'd have close to 90 guns per 100 people. Do we know if they included infants and children in the "100 people" statistic?

I'm guessing that a lot of American gun owners are in that 3-10 range. They probably have a .22, a shotgun, and some form of deer rifle, plus a handgun or two, and possibly multiples of the previously mentioned guns. My dad has over 30 guns. He likes to collect different ones. My oldest son has three guns at 18 years old.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

This poll may shed some light on things: http://www.thehighroad.org/poll.php?do=showresults&pollid=3407

 

[Regolith]

Between me and my brother (who lives with me), we've got three. Personally, I have two. I plan on increasing that number soon, though.

 

[fletcher]

I've got 6.

 

[MyRoad]

This poll may shed some light on things: http://www.thehighroad.org/poll.php?...ts&pollid=3407

Thanks for pointing that out. I didn't intend to duplicate the poll, and that does shed some light on my point -- of 359 respondents 68% had between 5-50 guns, with over 46% having between 5-20. Its a fairly predictable bell curve, the interesting thing being the the majority of gun owners (who participate in online polls on gun-related websites...) possess somewhere between 5 and 50 guns.

If the "80 million gun owners" number is correct, that's about 27% of the population (based on 300 million total). That's a significant number, but it'd be nicer if it was 51%.

My dad owns three rifles; a Mossy 500 and a Marlin 30/30 lever (still NIB), and a Stevens .22 he's had for almost 70 years. He has never laid a hand on a computer, and won't be participating in any online polls... just another of those unaccounted for gun owners.

 

[CypherNinja]

Where do you check if you own 31?



I checked 3-10.

 

[glockman19]

I currently own 17. 4 revolvers, 5 pistols, 7 rifles & 1 shotgun. I hope to have 20+ by years end.

 

[Nil]

7 here. 2 pistols, 4 rifles and 1 shotgun.

 

[MyRoad]

The more I think about it, the less it seems this type of poll will really reveal anything useful... According to the Members List page of THR, there are over 46,000 members here -- that's pretty impressive BTW. Gun owners who are enthusiastic about the sport, politics, self-defense, etc. aspect of gun ownership enough to spend time here are probably weighing heavily towards those that own multiple guns.

If I had to guess, I would imagine that of the 80 million gun owners, probably most fall into the "own less than 3" and "shoot less than annually" categories, a lot of folks with a shotgun in the back of the closet and maybe a deer rifle. While owning more than 10 is quite common here, I bet its only a very small fraction of total gun owners.

The point being, my sense is that of the 27% of the population that own guns, my guess would be that the vast majority of them are non-political about it or couldn't really care less if AR-15's are or not legal. Heck, I was at the RANGE the other day and the guy next to me saw my RRA AR and asked, "is that thing really legal?".

 

[NeoSpud]

My father isn't a collector as much as a repository. He owns more than seventy assorted rifles, shotguns, pistols, muzzle loading firearms, and one very nice cavalry saber from the civil war, though I doubt he actually paid for a quarter of them. Various family members and friends have simply dropped them off over the years.

My collection is meager in comparison, though I'm not disappointed. An AR, an AK, an SKS, a 10/22, a lever action 22 magnum, a Mitchell AK-22, and a few pistols is nothing of which to be ashamed. The only additions I'd like to make would be an M1a / FAL / that new Kel-Tec bullpup .308 plus a .50 BMG. Though my collection isn't going to increase anytime soon, I can always dream. The Bohica Arms .50 is overwhelmingly tempting, though.

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

Beautiful ones. Swiss ones, Russian and absolutely georgious .30 caliber ones.

 

[Ithaca1937]

I've got 16. 2 pistols, 3 shotguns, and 11 rifles. My brother has 13 total. I agree with MyRoad that most people here probable have more than one gun.

 

[dstorm1911]

ya didn't have a selection if your collection is 4 digits............ and my best friend is in the 6 digit range as far as shooting...... every single day, most of the collectors in my area are all 4 digits on up and most own at least one armored vehicle so ya need a box for

check here if ya live in Pima County AZ or Pinal county AZ

 

[MyRoad]

most of the collectors in my area are all 4 digits on up and most own at least one armored vehicle

Yeah, I was looking for the meat of the curve. Using the numbers mentioned before: with 270 million guns and 80 million gun owners, that's an average of 3.375 guns per owner. I suppose a handful of guys with over 1,000 guns each doesn't throw that off too much, but combined with the multi-gun owners in the small segment represented on THR, it implies there are a lot of gun owners who probably only have one gun.

 

[Well-Armed Lamb]

I actually had to stop and think about it, which surprised me. I'm not sure when I stopped being able to say "I have X guns" without re-counting them...

(Makes me feel like the Count, on Sesame Street. "Twelve! Twelve wonderful guns, Ah hah hah!!!"

 

[Redneck with a 40]

9 guns here, 1 shotgun, 4 rifles, 4 handguns.

 

[LoadedDrum]

The real question here is how do we arm the other ten people.

 

[MaterDei]

Makes me feel like the Count, on Sesame Street. "Twelve! Twelve wonderful guns, Ah hah hah!!!"

Made me laugh.

 

[Gator]

Guns, what guns? I have no guns.

 

[Quickdraw McGraw]

11

3 handguns, 3 shotguns, 5 rifles between me and my 6 year old son. My wife lets me by guns for him. I explain that a $500 gun will be $700 when he is old enough to buy them. That way I'm saving money. It works for me.

 

[nate.45]

Those people who picked 1-2 need to catch up or get mustered.

 

[MyRoad]

Do we know if they included infants and children in the "100 people" statistic?

Interesting, I don't know. I think that they only refer to "citizens", so I would guess its anyone with a SS#. What ever the method, I would assume that its the same method used in the comparative numbers for other countries.

Per capita we probably have more TV's and cars than most other countries too. To some degree its simply a reflection of our wealth (and the article mentions that correlation).