Fewer U.S. gun owners own more guns

[SecularMotion]

A decreasing number of American gun owners own two-thirds of the nation's guns and as many as one-third of the guns on the planet -- even though they account for less than 1% of the world's population, according to a CNN analysis of gun ownership data.

The data, collected by the Injury Prevention Journal, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the General Social Survey and population figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, found that the number of U.S. households with guns has declined, but current gun owners are gathering more guns.

http://articles.cnn.com/2012-07-31/politics/politics_gun-ownership-declining_1_gun-owners-gun-control-josh-sugarmann

[rfranklin]

1. Gvies some support to the image of "gun nuts," doesn't it?

Perfect for that "hoarders" program!

[shadowrider]

2. Sugarmann. Pfffft.

* Assault weapons' menacing looks, coupled with the public's confusion over fully-automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons --anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun-- can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons. Josh Sugarmann »

* Handguns are a public-health problem. Josh Sugarmann »

http://www.quotes.net/authors/Josh+Sugarmann

[Clames]

3. That study is a load of crap.

They are equating dilution to a decrease in the absolute number of gun owners. Another example of mathematic failure by gun-control extremists.

[spin]

4. Self-Reported Gun Ownership in U.S. Is Highest Since 1993 ...

Self-Reported Gun Ownership in U.S. Is Highest Since 1993
October 26, 2011

PRINCETON, NJ -- Forty-seven percent of American adults currently report that they have a gun in their home or elsewhere on their property. This is up from 41% a year ago and is the highest Gallup has recorded since 1993, albeit marginally above the 44% and 45% highs seen during that period.



***snip***



***snip***


http://www.gallup.com/poll/150353/self-reported-gun-ownership-highest-1993.aspx

[AndyTiedye]

19. Interesting Chart if It is At All Accurate

This shows that the proportion of gun owning Republican-leaning households has remained pretty stable over the past decade,
while the proportion of Democratic-leaning ones has increased by a third in the past year.

Are a lot of Democrats buying guns now, or have a lot of gun owners switched parties?

[ileus]

5. A right not used is a right soon lost.

A progressives we need to help introduce others to this most valuable of rights. If you care about the future it's something we all must do.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

11. Machiavelli:

Rome remained free for four hundred years and Sparta eight hundred, although their citizens were armed all that time; but many other states that have been disarmed have lost their liberties in less than forty years.

[twizzler]

6. I've got to wonder how many people when asked if they owned firearms

said no even if they did. I know I would've. So that poll is probably not accurate at all.

[rDigital]

9. Exactly

Most people are not going to admit to a stranger what kind of possessions they do or do not have.

That poll is garbage science at best.

[twizzler]

10. If someone called or came to my door asking what I own

I would be very suspicious, particularly about if I own firearms. How would I know if it's a legitimate poll or someone just targeting my home for a burglary.

Also, it's no one's business what I own or don't own.

[Hoyt]

14. Yea, all those folks with "Insured by Smith & Wesson" on their car would never admit they covet guns

Every gun lover I've know would be proud to say they own guns, lots of guns -- they think it makes them special.

[NewMoonTherian]

15. But not on an official poll.

That's why the lakes and rivers in this country are littered with guns lost in tragic boating accidents. You're right though - saying it off the record and pasting signs up everywhere is silly if you want to avoid uncomfortable attention. If I owned a gun, I would probably be more discreet.

[twizzler]

18. Every gun owner I know,

and I live in gun country where just about everyone has a gun, would never admit to anyone that they own guns.
I've never even seen one of those "Insured by Smith & Wesson" stickers. Why would anyone put something like that on their car?

[thomasrageface]

20. There are more guns in cars without bumper stickers than there are cars on the road with a S&W sign.

People might talk about guns with their friends and neighbors, but there are few people who are going to tell some random stranger that calls their house they own guns. It is kind of like saying, "why yes perfect stranger who randomly called my home, I keep brick of cash in my storage room and I have $800 in $20 bills stashed under the front seat of my car." That is the equivalent to telling a stranger that you own guns.

[DonP]

7. Another gun control example of wishful thinking ... or outright lying

If there are fewer and fewer gun owners, why do the gun control fans get increasingly shrill every time another state allows CCW, CC or OC?

If the projections they so desperately cling to are right, gun owners will gradually just fade away.

But later today or tomorrow we'll have another rash of posts about how there are too many guns out there, or how murders are way up or how no one is trying to take your guns, followed by posts calling for another AWB or ammunition ban.

Maybe gun controllers are by nature schizophrenic?

[Simo 1939_1940]

17. "Maybe gun controllers are by nature schizophrenic?"

Like the notions that gun owners are terrified of losing their guns, while at the same time predisposed to misbehaving with same guns.

Make up your mind, restrictionists. If gun owners fear having their guns taken above all else, there is a very strong incentive to behave in a lawful manner with them - and a very strong disincentive to violate the law with them. After all - engaging in the latter would likely result in the loss of their firearms, possibly for life.

[aikoaiko]

8. Even if true, and I'm not sure it is, it just shows how pathetic the anti-gun crusade is.

They can't get a new federal gun restriction on the books or even to the President's desk.

The President treats anti-gun legislation (even talk of it) like an embarrassing family member.

And even people who don't own guns reject new gun restrictions.

Even it it is true that a smaller percentage of Americans own guns, it only highlight America's wholesale rejection of new federal gun laws.

[4th law of robotics]

12. 1/3 of the guns on the planet?

Yeah I'm sure Americans own more guns than the Army of China and North Korea and so on.

/did you know that fewer and fewer Americans are responsible for greater numbers of votes? It's true. If you look at it a large percentage do not vote at all whereas a small politically active contingent (mostly the elderly) vote in nearly every election. What should be done about these dangerous fanatics and their bizarre adherence to this "voting" right they believe the constitution guarantees them?

[gejohnston]

13. If you extend it to the 1950s

Last edited Sat Aug 4, 2012, 08:11 PM - Edit history (1)

there was a sharp climb in the 1960s and 1970s of what I call casual gun owners, someone who buys a pistol because of rising crime, throws it in the sock drawer, and forgets about it for 30 years. If there really is a drop, we know two things from it:
if this is accurate, it is going back to the 1950s levels and
our gun ownership rate is not the highest. IIRC, the survey claims only 20 percent of US households have guns. That would put us about the same as New Zealand and below Norway. Of course, that depends on the study and year done because all of these have huge margins of error.
http://www.allcountries.org/gun_ownership_rates.html

[Hoyt]

16. I doubt analysis was performed by polling people directly.