The most (and least) armed states in the union (Daily Beast)

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Your statistics don't really support your title. NICS checks indicate who's buying new guns from dealers. There are hundreds of thousands of people who have bought guns in the past (way before NICS) who know how to use them and should be considered just as armed.
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I don't disagree at all. My title, however, is merely a paraphrasing of the article's title.

I don't take the article seriously, and I posted merely as fun food-for-thought.

Here's another thought: I find it intensely comforting that no one seems to have any real idea of how many guns Americans own in general, much less what percentages are owned in which states. Everyone who writes about this topic must guess, because there are no reliable statistics.

That makes me smile from ear to redneck ear. :D

KR
 
I find it intensely comforting that no one seems to have any real idea of how many guns Americans own in general, much less what percentages are owned in which states.
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In states that do not allow people with a carry permit to skip checks, and states that do not allow private transfers without an FFL, the statistics are closer for legally transferred firearms.

For example Jersey fits that definition, and at dead last it would appear the safest place to be a violent predator.

(D.C. not being a state.)

So Jersey, the place to be a violent criminal.

Of course then Hawaii is next, and Hawaii as a prime tourist destination has a lot of people who don't know anybody else and wouldn't even recognize a local. So the violent criminal might get away with more crime there, and face limited armed victims too!

How would a predator decide?

The list actually makes more sense in reverse, because the more anti-gun places don't have many exemptions for NICS, and have closed the "gun-show loophole" or all private transfers.
 
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38th.......... I think I need to go shopping.

I guess I don't help our stats much. I just realized 9 of mine didn't go through NICS. BP & pvt sales.
 
As others have mentioned, those numbers are totally bogus.

But I find this note on the linked site of interest:

All 10 of the most armed states voted for John McCain in 2008. All 10 of the least armed (including the District of Columbia) voted for Barack Obama.
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As other voters, politicians' stand on the Second Amendment is my litmus test.

And if they take no stand on it, I assume they are not supporters of my right to own a gun.
 
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NICs check statistics are an interesting way of looking at gun purchases but as already noted, I'm no sure what the numbers actually tell us. I imagine the wholesale statistics are more valid since over time they follow the retail numbers fairly closely. While I'm sure someone (some marketing reference firm) tracks the wholesale figures even those would have to be adjusted for (bi-directional) out of state purchases if the objective is to determine the gun purchase rate per 100k citizens.
 
Does Bud's run NCIS checks when you purchase a gun and they ship it to your local FFL? If so and there are another couple high volume internet dealers in KY doing the same thing, I could understand the discrepancy.
 
The free Republic of Texas does not require NICS checks for sales between individuals. Based upon population, I guarantee Texas is more heavily armed than any other state.
 
We will never have a clear idea on how many guns per capita a state buys and sells, or owns, because these NICS stats don't include any private sales for many states, such as person-to-person sales and gunshows. Some states are super restrictive, and ALL of their transfers are through NICS, and some, like Ohio (where I live), has a pretty gun enthusiastic population, with lots of people, and very little restrictions on person-to person sales. For every NICS cheecked gun purchase I make, I probably do just as many, or more, private purchases. That would change the stats drastically if that is the norm. I know for a big fact that more guns are bought and sold at Ohio gunshows than there are TOTAL guns IN OWNERSHIP in some of the entire western states that are high on the NICS report list for being higher capita sales. We just have that many people in attendance and doing business, swapping, selling and trading, at the gunshows.
 
The ATF has actually released total numbers of guns sold in the past, which is far more accurate for all FFL transferred guns.


Looking at the report you can see how many guns were sold in every state, and even a breakdown into various types of guns.
NFA items, which they have tracked the longest and in most detail are broken down by item type and state location.
Of course some LEO and government weapons are included in the total numbers along with weapons held by SOT dealers.

These are not even the most detailed reports:
http://www.atf.gov/statistics/


All firearms manufactured in 2008 down to manufacturer, and caliber (an additional information not added here):

http://www.atf.gov/statistics/download/afmer/2008-firearms-manufacturers-export-report.pdf

YEAR 2008 **
MANUFACTURED
PISTOLS REVOLVERS
TO .22 195,633 TO .22 115,511
TO .25 14,454 TO .32 6,681
TO .32 40,485 TO .357 MAG 105,944
TO .380 278,945 TO .38 SPEC 133,621
TO 9MM 421,701 TO .44 MAG 31,135
TO .50 658,163 TO .50 38,861

TOTAL 1,609,381 TOTAL 431,753

RIFLES 1,612,387
SHOTGUNS 752,859
MISC. FIREARMS 92,564

EXPORTED
PISTOLS 54,030
REVOLVERS 28,205
RIFLES 104,544
SHOTGUNS 41,186
PREPARED BY EYR 1/14/10
MISC. FIREARMS 523 Revised 5/24/2010
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There is strict regulations on export of firearms, so if you subtract the known exported firearms it is easy to determine the number of non-exported firearms that enter the American market every year.

So in 2008 a total of 1,609,381 pistols were made, but 54,030 were exported. So a net change of 1,555,351 pistols occurred in the American market in 2008.

So the exact number of legal firearms that enter the American market every year are known (excluding personally made firearms.)



There is even more detailed reports I have seen.
The ATF also routinely obtains the information on where the firearms are sent wholesale.
They also deal with the manufacturers directly, and records they hold, details of every single firearm they made, from make and model, to serial number ranges.
Information they can obtain during investigations doing traces. They can obtain full records on a huge range of firearms from the manufacturer during the course of investigations.
They know what serial number details and ranges mean what to each manufacturer, and obtain a list of the numbers.

As many are aware of for example they were using such information to conduct "forward traces" and visit a lot of AK purchasers in various regions not too long ago. (To try and see if the guns had gone to Mexico.)
Tracing the guns from manufacturer to FFL and then following that to the purchaser, just to make sure the gun had not got into any trouble, and trying to develop leads.


I might post one of the more detailed reports later.

We will never have a clear idea on how many guns per capita a state buys and sells, or owns,
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The number of every modern commercially manufactured firearm is known, and has been known for many years.
When most firearms legally are transferred across state lines from one party to another, a record is created because they must go through an FFL.
So there is a record of where most firearms were at least originally sent on the wholesale market to be sold, including in what state, and the number from there that then were sold into the private market.

So a rough estimate on the number a state has is possible (rough because it does not include private individuals moving in and out of state from another state who take firearms purchased in the other state with them.)
A rough estimate on the number total in the United States is also possible, because the records of manufacturers, how many they made, and how many have entered the American market are also known.
 
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Looking at the number of NICSs checks per state cannot tell what state is the most armed. There are too many exemptions from a NICS check for it to be usable for that purpose.
 
I'm sure there's all kinds of flaws in that data, but it's probably generally correct.

One thing that comes to mind is that in poorer states you probably have a lot more people buying used guns in private sales than in states with higher incomes - and not buying guns as often (these stats only go back 1 1/2 years), so those sales wouldn't be reflected in this data. I suspect gun ownership is higher than these stats would reflect in the southern states.
 
As others stated, we will probably never know the true number. Take NY and some other stats, no insta check if you have a permit or sales between LEOs.
 
Vermont ranks 35? I can't even think of anybody I know that doesn't own a gun....or under 10 for that matter. I wonder how accurate this information really is....I'm sure its based on real stats and everything, I just don't know how accurate it really reflects the actual amount of guns per capita/population whatever......probably has something to do with the fact that Vermont is one of the last places you can conduct private sales
 
Did you actually read the article? The first thing that caught my eye was, how you can do NICS checks on 134% of the population. Does every man, woman and child in the state buy a gun 1.34 times per year? :rolleyes:
One stipulation: States are not completely consistent in reporting of NICS data. Some states use the system for background checks on purchases on the secondary market and others do not. As well, Kentucky implemented monthly NICS checks on concealed weapons, which has inflated its numbers.
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Having your background run every month, regardless of whether you actually buy a gun? Are you kidding me?
That in itself is enough to invalidate the numbers right off the bat. Title of the article should not be "most armed", but "most abusive"

I have probably purchased 35-50 handguns in the last five years, and sold most of them. Having a CHL, I have had NICS checks done on exactly "zero" of them.

Bottom line--the article is as credible as Al Gore's movie on Global Warming.
:rolleyes:
 
I bought over 15 handguns privately without any checks since it is not mandatory here in New Mexico.

Kentucky won the contest of most people with store bought guns.
 
Since California did not make the list, can I do a "for fun" calculation?

I bought a rifle a couple days ago. There are 37 million Californians. I think I am the only person in this state to buy a gun recently. I'm too busy watching my back and the doors and sheriff's logs to do the math. They have a whole flippin' army of people to do a background on one guy. But a quick calculation says I'm .005 per hundred K.

If anyone has time to do the math without looking over their shoulder, I'm interested.

I bought what I coined as a bonifide California Assualt Weapon. Now, you can all get a laugh out of this, but it's a Marlin 1894 44 mag lever that holds ten rounds. If you ask me, that's a lot of firepower for such a homely state. If the freakin' senators only knew how much "badder" that is than a 223 that holds ten girly rounds! And I don't even need a button thingy - I can just keep jamming rounds in into the tube magazine, even as I shoot.

Did I say too much?

Happy fourth brothers!!! Be safe!
 
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