How many AR's are there?

[Steve CT]

Is there any reliable source of information about how many "civilian owned" AR type rifles there are in the US? I see and hear numbers that vary widely, from less than 1 million to almost 4 million. I'm kind of trying to put all the ban/buyback/licensing,etc in perspective and Internet searches vary from data over 4 years old to current "estimates" in the media.

 

[kimbershot]

alot! charles krauthamer (news guy) estimates 100million hi cap mags. it'll be impossible to ban, police or incarcerate "offenders".

 

[Creature]

Add everything together, make all the necessary caveats, carry the two, and we reach the conclusion that there are somewhere around 3,750,000 AR-15-type rifles in the United States today. If there are around 310 million firearms in the USA today, that means these auto-loading assault-style rifles make up around 1 percent of the total arsenal.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/crime/20...many_assault_rifles_are_there_in_america.html

 

[xwingband]

1% of the entirety... but more like 3-4% of rifles if you take the 110 million rifles point in the article also.

 

[Steve CT]

The Slate estimate came up in my search, I don't know much about Slate or their credibility. I don't know much about Krauthammer either, but just those two numbers would mean that each AR averages 26 highcap magazines?

 

[gym]

That's not realistic, I would estmate most AR owners have 10 mags or less

 

[Grassman]

Thanks to Santa there is one more out there today!

 

[Hacker15E]

Slate is quite a heavily left-leaning publication -- don't know how that would impact the reliability of their numbers, though.

 

[berettaprofessor]

Not just AR's; AK's, Saigas, Ruger Mini-14's, and any number of other modern semis.

 

[Isaac-1]

If you assume shelf space in a typical LGS to be a representative example I would say about 1/5th of rifles are the type that would have fallen under the previous AWB.

 

[JohnBiltz]

Apples and oranges, 100 million hi-cap magazines would probably include pistols not just rifles.

 

[BoilerUP]

...don't forget 10/22s with a tacticool stock kit...