Americans Own an Estimated 434 Million Firearms

[Carl N. Brown]

Prohibited persons

My home town (county actually, maybe even the whole judicial district -- I have not checked) had local option prohibition of alcohol 1953-1968. Alcohol bootleggers often dealt in other contraband. Pot, pills, pistols, porn. Prohibited persons could easily get prohibited items under prohibition. Prohibitions create black markets and make things worse.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Oh, no ... now we're going to start seeing ads for salty, crunchy snacks. Come to think of it, that might not be at all that bad. Now for something cold and bubbly ....

I thought you were going to write: "Oh, no...now they're going to take away our pringles."

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Prohibitions create black markets and make things worse.

I've been hearing this for as long as I can remember. But I have to ask, where do you draw the line? If you take your position and carry it to its full extent, we would have total lawless and chaos. (So, kind of like Detroit.) I mean, all laws are prohibitions. We have a prohibition on murder. Shall we legalize (ahem, perhaps I should say "decriminalize") murder? I mean, murderers can still commit murder with or without the prohibition on murder.

I don't know if anyone noticed, but Oregon legalized meth, heroine, and a host of other drugs last week. Where does this end? If we don't have laws (a.k.a prohibitions), this place will be like Lord Of The Flies.

I get it. There are millions of gun owners. Just like there are millions of crackheads. (I suspect a Venn diagram might show us the overlap of populations.) I get that it will be physically impossible to eliminate guns (which is a good thing) in the same way it has been physically impossible to eliminate drugs. I just feel like statements, such as yours indicate that we should all just throw up our hands and say Screw it. Just let it be a free for all.

 

[gunlaw]

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/...ricans-own-an-estimated-434-million-firearms/



It seems like last time I remember the number being at 300 million firearms. But that could have been a couple or so years ago.

That’s what I have where are the rest of them.

 

[reddog81]

I've been hearing this for as long as I can remember. But I have to ask, where do you draw the line? If you take your position and carry it to its full extent, we would have total lawless and chaos.

Yeah, sure... and if we allow people to carry concealed pistols the streets will run red with blood... Criminalize actions not items. Murder, assault, fraud, rape, rioting, looting, etc should all be illegal. Doing drugs doesn’t necessarily hurt anyone else. Me owning a bumpstock doesn’t hurt anyone else.

 

[Hartkopf]

IMO, the antis will come after the 3%. I won't list all of the possible ways they'll go about it but as has been warned here multiple times, online posts are traceable. They have plenty of bloomin money to pay computer geeks to hunt for red flags on social media and online forums if they choose.

 

[P5 Guy]

But the new survey estimates that 133m of these guns are concentrated in the hands of just 3% of American adults – a group of super-owners who have amassed an average of 17 guns each."

I am a part of the survey's 3% not the mythical 3% of rebels

 

[wiscoaster]

.... Criminalize actions not items ....

That's the purpose of law. The error the antis make is in presuming that if you eliminate the tool employed to effect the action then you also eliminate the action. That completely ignores human nature. Human nature will prevail. If one tool is made illegal and removed from the society then the human will find another tool to effect the intended action.

 

[theotherwaldo]

According to my calculations........ between Me, The Gunny, and CapnMac you other THR guys own 127 firearms.

OK, who has the other seven guns???

 

[bdickens]

I've been hearing this for as long as I can remember. But I have to ask, where do you draw the line? If you take your position and carry it to its full extent, we would have total lawless and chaos. (So, kind of like Detroit.) I mean, all laws are prohibitions. We have a prohibition on murder. Shall we legalize (ahem, perhaps I should say "decriminalize") murder? I mean, murderers can still commit murder with or without the prohibition on murder.

I don't know if anyone noticed, but Oregon legalized meth, heroine, and a host of other drugs last week. Where does this end? If we don't have laws (a.k.a prohibitions), this place will be like Lord Of The Flies.

I get it. There are millions of gun owners. Just like there are millions of crackheads. (I suspect a Venn diagram might show us the overlap of populations.) I get that it will be physically impossible to eliminate guns (which is a good thing) in the same way it has been physically impossible to eliminate drugs. I just feel like statements, such as yours indicate that we should all just throw up our hands and say Screw it. Just let it be a free for all.

Reductio ad absurdum.

 

[CapnMac]

OK, who has the other seven guns?

Those are in Gunny's house []
The Shed is it's own small nation-state []
Of course Louisiana skews the averages []

 

[stchman]

I wonder how they arrived at that number?
Does it account for all the guns you used to be able to buy at hardware stores and Sears and Montgomery Wards?
What about all those surplus guns?
What about guns handed down from generation to generation?
How many guns were manufactured and sold from the end of WW2 till 1990, where it appears they started these stats?

Probably not. I have read articles that the number of personal firearms in the US is closer to 1 billion. And there might be a trillion rounds of ammo in the US alone in private hands.

 

[Golfanaticshooter]

That's the purpose of law. The error the antis make is in presuming that if you eliminate the tool employed to effect the action then you also eliminate the action. That completely ignores human nature. Human nature will prevail. If one tool is made illegal and removed from the society then the human will find another tool to effect the intended action.

Correct. If I recall correctly, London surpassed NYC in murder for the first time in 2018. Very strange that bad people are bad regardless of tool choice or availability of said tools.

 

[GAF]

I bought 5 guns so far this year. I am looking forward to next years purchases!
Now that I have whittled my must have gun list down by 5 I need to add a few more
to the short list. It has become a never ending battle to keep the short list from becoming a very long list.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Doing drugs doesn’t necessarily hurt anyone else.

You don't live someplace where drug abuse is really prevalent do you?

Me owning a bumpstock doesn’t hurt anyone else.

Truth.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

One time I did an informal survey in the office. Almost everyone owned a firearm. I was surprised.

I would have told you "No."

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Correct. If I recall correctly, London surpassed NYC in murder for the first time in 2018. Very strange that bad people are bad regardless of tool choice or availability of said tools.

First, let me apologize in advance if this is the post that gets this thread locked. That's not my intent.

IMO the biggest mistake that we make as Americans is thinking that our political leaders are stupid.

I don't know the exact numbers but I would be willing to bet that that 80% or better of our elected representatives have law degrees. They've (the 80%) all had constitutional law. They understand the purpose of the Second Amendment but they refuse to acknowledge it. They talk about hunting or sporting purposes or recreational shooting or even self-defense against criminals but never acknowledged that the reason that the Second Amendment exists is for self-defense against them.

We're also mistaken if we think that their intent is to disarm criminals. They are trying to disarm us.

As gun owners the biggest mistake we make is in somehow believing that having an "R"behind your name means you're a friend of the Second Amendment.

Donald Trump directed the AFT to declare Bumpstocks machine guns and Expost Facto Ban them. He's also the guy that said "Take the guns first and then due process."

Dan Crenshaw thinks Red Flag laws are fine and dandy.

Paul Ryan somehow couldn't manage to get National Repricocity through with a Republican House, Senate and President.

George II stated that he would make the assault weapons ban permanent if the Congress would put the bill on his desk.

Reagan signed the Mulford Act.

Nixon was all for a National ban on handguns.

Now I realize I'm getting into tinfoil-hat territory here so I'm going to keep this part brief but I am convinced that there are elements in our government on both sides of the aisle that have plans for us that they can't Implement as long as we are armed and able to resist.

I've said this before but I also believe that that's why they're spending so much time indoctrinating our children and their children that guns are evil and no law abiding citizen really needs one. We had this discussion in another thread about how there are actually guide books telling Hollywood script writers how to portray guns and how to portray gun owners.

Bottom line regardless of what side of the aisle they sit on the majority of people in Washington want you disarmed

True story bro.

 

[Old Dog]

I am in full agreement with TM's above post.

Complacency has killed our movement in the past, and shall again in the near future.

The very fact that almost no one wants to discuss the 2020 DNC platform, with its explicit gun control intentions clearly spelled out, on internet firearms forums -- indeed, doing so here quickly gets a thread locked -- is evidence to me that our movement is most probably doomed.

 

[shafter]

Imagine if the Founding Fathers tried to organize the American Revolution by communicating via something called the Internet that King George could monitor, censor, or even shut down. It never would have gotten off the ground and most of them would have been hung.

The number of guns alone doesn't mean much without an effective way to organize.

 

[army_eod]

The fact that we have 2A and firearms is the only reason we have not been subjected to complete control and tyranny.
We have to keep it that way.

 

[GAF]

Amen to the last four posts!!!

 

[army_eod]

First, let me apologize in advance if this is the post that gets this thread locked. That's not my intent.

IMO the biggest mistake that we make as Americans is thinking that our political leaders are stupid.

I don't know the exact numbers but I would be willing to bet that that 80% or better of our elected representatives have law degrees. They've (the 80%) all had constitutional law. They understand the purpose of the Second Amendment but they refuse to acknowledge it. They talk about hunting or sporting purposes or recreational shooting or even self-defense against criminals but never acknowledged that the reason that the Second Amendment exists is for self-defense against them.

We're also mistaken if we think that their intent is to disarm criminals. They are trying to disarm us.

As gun owners the biggest mistake we make is in somehow believing that having an "R"behind your name means you're a friend of the Second Amendment.

Donald Trump directed the AFT to declare Bumpstocks machine guns and Expost Facto Ban them. He's also the guy that said "Take the guns first and then due process."

Dan Crenshaw thinks Red Flag laws are fine and dandy.

Paul Ryan somehow couldn't manage to get National Repricocity through with a Republican House, Senate and President.

George II stated that he would make the assault weapons ban permanent if the Congress would put the bill on his desk.

Reagan signed the Mulford Act.

Nixon was all for a National ban on handguns.

Now I realize I'm getting into tinfoil-hat territory here so I'm going to keep this part brief but I am convinced that there are elements in our government on both sides of the aisle that have plans for us that they can't Implement as long as we are armed and able to resist.

I've said this before but I also believe that that's why they're spending so much time indoctrinating our children and their children that guns are evil and no law abiding citizen really needs one. We had this discussion in another thread about how there are actually guide books telling Hollywood script writers how to portray guns and how to portray gun owners.

Bottom line regardless of what side of the aisle they sit on the majority of people in Washington want you disarmed

True story bro.

Ok

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Deleted

 

[spraay]

Umm, this number is wayyyyy low.

Possibly. I'm sure it's hard to figure out how many there were before very much in the way of records were kept. But I'll wager a bit that a LOT of this number were counted in the last 20 years, and it would be easy enough because they can track shipments at the wholesale level. Until recently there would be a sizable number of them in the distribution/retail pipeline and not in consumer hands, but I think 2020 has seen a lot of that stock empty out...

Let's also bear in mind that there are 328 (or so) million people in the US. Obviously many are children, but it would only require the adults to have a few guns in their possession to make up this number. And the outliers (like so many of us who've recently had boating accidents) tilt the numbers a lot.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

I remember there was a discussion here a long time ago about who has the oldest firearm on THR.

One guy said that he had a working Fusil that was made in the mid 1400s.

I suspect there are quite a few more than 400 million guns in this country