My Goal is to Pump Up My Rookie Numbers - Handguns vs Long Guns

[d31tc]

Read some survey that around the year 2000, the number of handguns in the US passed the number of long guns (rifles/shotguns). Looking at my inventory, I have 125% more long guns than handguns, so I have a long way to go to catch up to the average norm for gun owners. Now I recognize that, as members of a gun board, we are not a statistical cross section of the population. I'm sure 99% of us are members of the super owner group. So even though the ratio of my collection is out of balance, the number of guns I own tip the scale back for me. Anyway, I dug up some stats and conflated them since many of them are from different years, from around 2021 through 2023, and some going back to 2009, so take them for what they are worth.

The percentage of adult Americans that own at least one gun is 32%. With 261,744,000 American Adults in 2023 equates to 83,758,080 gun owners in America.
In 2023, there were an estimated 466,000,000 firearms in the U.S. Using estimates from 2009 and adding in ATF estimates of manufactured firearms from 2010 to 2022, there are an estimated 178,000,000 handguns, 150,000,000 rifles, 96,000,000 shotguns and, I'll say, 42,000,000 misc. firearms, to make 466,000,000 (monkey math ensues). Sooo....

In 2021, 83% of gun owners owned a handgun which equates to 69,519,206 Americans own a hand gun. An average of 2.56 handguns per handgun owner (I will assume the 0.56 handgun is parts for now )
In 2021, 69% of gun owners owned a rifle which equates to 57,793,075 Americans own a rifle. An average of 2.6 rifles per rifle owner.
In 2021, 58.4% of gun owners owned a shot gun, which equates to 48,914,718 Americans own a shotgun. An average of 1.96 shotguns per shotgun owner.

50% owned 87% of the guns, or 41,879,040 gun owners owned 405,420,000. An average of 9.68 guns for the upper 50% of owners. I'm looking good here.
23% owned 66% of the guns, or 19,264,360 gun owners owned 307,560,000. An average of 15.97 guns for the upper 23% of owners. I'm looking good here, too.

So, I'm above average on overall numbers, but the average gun owner has more handguns than rifles. Not sure I can settle for less than average in that regard. I need to buy 12 handguns to get my ratio close to the 1.2:1 handgun to rifle ratio that America has achieved. Please don't ask me to cite my sources as it was a hodge podge of Google searching and I didn't write down the links. It's all monkey math anyway.

My "list" currently has 8 handguns at the top, which will help with my handgun to long gun ratio. I've run out of room in my safe for rifles, and handguns just seem to make sense right now, regardless of my ratio. I can't argue "need" as functional tools as I have all I "need", but I guess I can come up with some more excuses. (10mm is good for bear defense, right? )

Are you below average? Do you need to buy more handguns, or have you properly allocated your resources over time? Where are you lacking to be statistically adequate?

 

[Beck]

Too funny, and I almost fell for it. You should have posted this on April 1st.

 

[wayneinFL]

I stopped buying rifles and shotguns because I ran out of room. Handguns take up less space.

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

I have a shotgun.

Nobody needs more than one shotgun, right?

 

[d31tc]

I have a shotgun.

Nobody needs more than one shotgun, right?

Upland, goose and trap, with the same shotgun? When you die of heat stroke carrying a 10 ga goose gun on miles of pheasant hunts, don’t cry to the gods of statistics. It’s your funeral…

 

[LimaCharlie]

I try my best to keep my numbers up.

 

[Hillbilly Hydrographics]

What does it mean if 75% of collection is single shot 12 gauge shotguns? Maybe I need try diversify little more. And I always say that until I run across another old single shot that crys out to me to be saved

 

[LimaCharlie]

If you store your long guns alternated muzzle up and butt up, you can get a couple more in your safe.

 

[d31tc]

I’d guess that 99% of the members here are “super owners”, so we don’t have any need to be above average more than we are, no matter what gun type category we fall in.

I’ve just found that I have the rifles I need to meet my uses and have been leaning heavily towards buying hand guns. I saw a stat about the change in gun purchases leaning more towards handguns, and the fact that handguns now outnumber long guns. I looked at my list, and saw that I was helping these numbers. Then I went Googling.

I wasn’t intending to ask how many guns you have; curious if others have started to lean towards handguns, or what direction you’re going if not. I have handguns that meet my requirements as tools. Now it seems handguns are more practical to collect. Why else do I need a S&W 686 ? (not fighting words, just a fact for me)

 

[Riomouse911]

I’m not a statistics guy, I had enough of those in grad school. If I see something that piques my interest (be it long or short, rifled or smooth), and it’s within a limited but fairly flexible budget, then I buy it.

If I bought it, I’ll make room for it in the safes.

Stay safe.

 

[valnar]

I need to buy 12 handguns to get my ratio close to the 1.2:1 handgun to rifle ratio that America has achieved.

So I redid the math for you, and I came up with a different answer. There is another way. You need to send me some of your long guns to achieve the desired ratio.

 

[Mosin77]

I buy what I like. Sometimes it’s a long gun sometimes it’s a handgun.

I think handguns are easier to get into because your average city-dweller has no place to shoot a rifle so recreationally the handgun will be more appealing to more people. Plus the handgun is the quintessential self defense or home defense weapon and these days more people come to gun ownership for that than come because they are hunters or looking for a tool to despatch pests on the farm.

 

[d31tc]

So I redid the math for you, and I came up with a different answer. There is another way. You need to send me some of your long guns to achieve the desired ratio.

LOL. Best laugh all week.

 

[.308 Norma]

Read some survey that around the year 2000, the number of handguns in the US passed the number of long guns (rifles/shotguns).

Where are you lacking to be statistically adequate?

I'm not "lacking" the time, but I won't spend the time figuring out whether or not I'm below average according to some "year 2000" gun ownership survey.

 

[PapaG]

Like I tell anyone who asks: a .22 for squirrels, a shotgun for birds and a "little" 38 if someone breaks in. One lady actually said, "You have an arsenal!!!".
if she only knew. I have a deer rifle, too.

 

[commygun]

If you store your long guns alternated muzzle up and butt up, you can get a couple more in your safe.

He’s right, you know….

 

[tominboise]

I don't have any guns anymore, after the boat accident.

 

[d31tc]

I don't have any guns anymore, after the boat accident.

But if you were to take the insurance money to your local gun store, knowing you could start all over (less your deductible) would you be looking at the handgun cases or the rifles and shotguns along the wall? After getting the payout for the guns, I personally would take the money for the boat and put that into reloading components. I’d steer clear of a new boat, knowing the incredible risk of getting in one again.

 

[reddog81]

I’m the opposite. I need more rifles if we are supposed to have 1 for every 2 handguns.

My biggest problem is that I ran out of safe space a few years ago. A new handgun can fit about anywhere when it comes down to it. A new rifle takes up a lot more space. I already have multiple safes…

 

[tominboise]

But if you were to take the insurance money to your local gun store, knowing you could start all over (less your deductible) would you be looking at the handgun cases or the rifles and shotguns along the wall? After getting the payout for the guns, I personally would take the money for the boat and put that into reloading components. I’d steer clear of a new boat, knowing the incredible risk of getting in one again.

I'd probably be looking at more handguns and rimfire rifles, and fewer hunting rifles, given where I am in life. Like maybe 1 varmint/predator rifle and one medium hunting rifle (like a 270 or similar). I shoot my handguns and target rifles a lot more than I shoot my hunting rifles these days.

 

[NorthBorder]

I'm not below average in any category. Just ask my wife.

 

[CDW4ME]

My interest in handguns is centered on concealed carry and I carry semiautos; my handgun to rifle ratio reflects that.
Statistically I'm probably in the top minority 2% (estimate) of handgun owners that consistently try to carry a "decent" handgun everywhere legal.
I use to have muzzleloaders and bolt action rifles when I was a hunter but sold them when I quit hunting.
I have a AR15 but have not shot it in years; its worth keeping solely because some anti-gun people think I shouldn't have it.

 

[d31tc]

I'm not below average in any category. Just ask my wife.

A rare gun owner whose wife knows how many guns they have. Impressive!

 

[Buzznrose]

Read some survey that around the year 2000, the number of handguns in the US passed the number of long guns (rifles/shotguns). Looking at my inventory, I have 125% more long guns than handguns, so I have a long way to go to catch up to the average norm for gun owners. Now I recognize that, as members of a gun board, we are not a statistical cross section of the population. I'm sure 99% of us are members of the super owner group. So even though the ratio of my collection is out of balance, the number of guns I own tip the scale back for me. Anyway, I dug up some stats and conflated them since many of them are from different years, from around 2021 through 2023, and some going back to 2009, so take them for what they are worth.

The percentage of adult Americans that own at least one gun is 32%. With 261,744,000 American Adults in 2023 equates to 83,758,080 gun owners in America.
In 2023, there were an estimated 466,000,000 firearms in the U.S. Using estimates from 2009 and adding in ATF estimates of manufactured firearms from 2010 to 2022, there are an estimated 178,000,000 handguns, 150,000,000 rifles, 96,000,000 shotguns and, I'll say, 42,000,000 misc. firearms, to make 466,000,000 (monkey math ensues). Sooo....

In 2021, 83% of gun owners owned a handgun which equates to 69,519,206 Americans own a hand gun. An average of 2.56 handguns per handgun owner (I will assume the 0.56 handgun is parts for now )
In 2021, 69% of gun owners owned a rifle which equates to 57,793,075 Americans own a rifle. An average of 2.6 rifles per rifle owner.
In 2021, 58.4% of gun owners owned a shot gun, which equates to 48,914,718 Americans own a shotgun. An average of 1.96 shotguns per shotgun owner.

50% owned 87% of the guns, or 41,879,040 gun owners owned 405,420,000. An average of 9.68 guns for the upper 50% of owners. I'm looking good here.
23% owned 66% of the guns, or 19,264,360 gun owners owned 307,560,000. An average of 15.97 guns for the upper 23% of owners. I'm looking good here, too.

So, I'm above average on overall numbers, but the average gun owner has more handguns than rifles. Not sure I can settle for less than average in that regard. I need to buy 12 handguns to get my ratio close to the 1.2:1 handgun to rifle ratio that America has achieved. Please don't ask me to cite my sources as it was a hodge podge of Google searching and I didn't write down the links. It's all monkey math anyway.

My "list" currently has 8 handguns at the top, which will help with my handgun to long gun ratio. I've run out of room in my safe for rifles, and handguns just seem to make sense right now, regardless of my ratio. I can't argue "need" as functional tools as I have all I "need", but I guess I can come up with some more excuses. (10mm is good for bear defense, right? )

Are you below average? Do you need to buy more handguns, or have you properly allocated your resources over time? Where are you lacking to be statistically adequate?

All the numbers made my head hurt so I sent this post to my investment advisor guy and my tax lady to help me understand….

My advisor told me I needed to adjust my investment allocation to fund additional assets to purchase specific firearms to “right size” my firearm portfolio…and he charged me for the analysis.

My tax lady responded that I’d need to file an amendment to adjust my taxes due to reallocation of retirement accounts and she charged me for her services.

Now, I’m so cash broke from paying people how to get my “gun numbers” right that I cannot afford a new safe to put in all the new guns I need to buy (that I also cannot afford) because some random poster put this crazy notion in my head that I am below average, a terrible thing for a guy struggling to understand why at 60 I cannot do things like when I was 25.

Thanks Interwebs!!!!



P.s. if you see my wife, tell her you agree that I need to buy these guns for my grandkids. That usually works. They are 3 and 1…it is for their future….

 

[hoardingthemanual]

I prefer rifles to handguns and both of these to shotguns. My safe reflects this.