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The NSSF, the firearms industry’s trade group, has released some interesting production and other statistics they’ve accumulated from the ATF.  A couple of statistics are sure to cause Moms and media members to lunge for their fainting couches.

Imagine the tremors of terror that will reverberate through Giffords and Everytown at the news that Americans own well over 400 million firearms (shhh…don’t tell them the real number is probably north of half a billion).

Or that, among those hundreds of millions of guns is almost 18 million modern sporting rifles…otherwise known to the Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex and the anti-gun media…as “assault weapons.”

Here’s the NSSF’s press release. Enjoy . . .

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®), the firearms industry trade association, released the 2017 Firearms Production Report to members. The report compiles the most up to date information based on data sourced from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF’s) Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Export Reports (AFMER). Key findings for public release showed:

  • The estimated total number of firearms in civilian possession from 1986-2018 is 422.9 million, according to data reported in the ATF’s Firearms Commerce Report in the United States 2019 report and including the preliminary 2018 Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Exportation Report (AFMER) figures.
  • 17,740,000 Modern Sporting Rifles are in private ownership today.
  • More than half (54%) of all rifles produced in 2017 were modern sporting rifles.
  • In 2017, 7,901,218 total firearms were produced and imported. Of those, 4,411,923 were pistols and revolvers, 2,821,945 were rifles and 667,350 were shotguns.
  • An interim 2018 estimate showed a total 7,660,772 total firearms were produced and imported. Of those 4,277,971 were pistols and revolvers, 2,846,757 were rifles and 535,994 were shotguns. Those are interim reports and will be updated as complete information becomes available.
  • Firearms-ammunition manufacturing accounted for nearly 12,000 employees producing over $4.1 billion in goods shipped in 2017. An estimated 8.1 billion rounds, of all calibers and gauges, were produced in 2018 for the U.S. market.

“These figures show the industry that America has a strong desire to continue to purchase firearms for lawful purposes,” said Joe Bartozzi, President of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. “The Modern Sporting Rifle continues to be the most popular centerfire rifle sold in America today and is clearly a commonly-owned firearm with more than 17 million in legal private ownership today. The continued popularity of handguns demonstrates a strong interest by Americans to protect themselves and their homes, and to participate in the recreational shooting sports.”

The report also shows that as lawful firearms ownership in America continues to grow, criminal and unintentional misuse of firearms is falling. During the 25-year period covered in this report (1993–2017) the violent crime rate has decreased by 48.6 percent and unintentional firearm-related fatalities have declined by 68 percent.

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147 COMMENTS

    • Overall, yes. Most of my friends have either no guns, or at most only one gun. I can think of only two people (outside of my own gun-loving extended family) that own more than three.

      If you have lots, then you’re simply balancing out those who don’t. But that’s okay…if the SHTF, you’ll suddenly be the one they’ll want as their friend.

      • I’m kinda disappointed that there are only 18 million MSR’s out there. I have several myself. Many of the guys I work with have half a dozen or more. There are way too many decent people who don’t have even one. Those people need to come to their senses and buy a few. My brother for example only has a Mosin. Mosins are great, but he should add an AR/AK/etc.

        • Agreed, I hve a ’32 Mosin and a ’16 Mauser (Gerwher) 98k BUT the two AKs and the numerous ARs of various calibers in my cabinates get a lot more use, the Mauser ammo is way too expensive for plinking but I still “check the sights” a couple of times a year….

        • Makes me wonder if they’re only counting complete rifles, and not stripped or partial lowers. I know a few people who like to roll their own ARs.

        • MADDMAXX, when 8mm from Turkey and Romania was available, you should have bought it cheap and stacked it deep.

          Otherwise start reloading.

        • Mouse gun, since this data is compiled from ATF statistics, they almost certainly exclude any modern sporting rifles built from unserialized lowers. And there are a lot of those out there.

        • @Mouse and @Joel,

          Copy that. I built my ARs myself from 80% receivers and PSA kits (and yes, they run great). Still have a couple more receivers in the safe that are waiting for me to decide what to build next.

          All lawful, and all off the registration grid. Certainly not in the report’s numbers above.

      • When TSHTF and those who didn’t have the sense to arm themselves when they could can hold hands in the cry closet with their liberal buddies. I don’t need unprepared friends. I have enough well armed family and neighbors to call friends.

    • There being hundreds of millions of firearms, it would follow that there must be TRILLIONS of bullets in all sorts of calibers. If there was REALLY a gun, rifle, or shotgun problem…..wouldn’t EVERBODY know about it?

    • Yes, massively. Very, very few Americans own an assault weapon. Lots of Americans own semi-automatic rifles and carbines, none of which are assault weapons by any knowledgeable person’s definition.

      Two of my firearms are AR-15’s. No military service member would ever take one into war. Hell, the bayonet doesn’t even fit….

        • The BS definition put out by the left and the Pravda media. Depends on color and accessories that have nothing to do with actual lethality. They have convinced the useful fools that makes it scary, therefore is an “assault rifle”.

          In other words “feels”.

        • Okay, let’s make “assault weapons” normal. Hell, let’s make assault rifles normal. And legal, including the new ones.
          Only one question – how? If you have any ideas, let’s hear them!

        • ….always showing up in the ads…and very reasonably priced…not surprising they’re selling well…

        • @Someone. Well first we can stop buying into BS marketing that makes the distinction between MSR’s and AR-15s. I don’t really care if anyone left of center thinks what I own is an assault rifle. I should be able to own one either way. Can you see how we are ceding ground by calling it an MSR?

      • Assault rifle, and an AR15 is the standard rifle of the unorganized militia right now, followed by the rest of the AR platform and AK platform.

        I would easily take my semi-auto AR10 with me to war, I would need to bring my own spare parts and extra ammo because it may be a little more difficult to source 7.62 or .308 as part of the unorganized militia, at least until a few medium machine guns are in play and you can trade for ammo.

        • The distinction is total BS and gun owners need to stop pretending like its bad to own the same guns as our armed forces. The pearl-clutching fuddery needs to stop at “bUt ThA mIlUhTaRy.”

        • Hey Mac,

          So if I am understanding you, you figure that if we say the AR-15 is not an “Assault” … whatever, that means we are against “Assault …” whatever’s?

          Nope, that ain’t it.

        • @enuf, nah man, never suggested you were against “Assault-” whatevers. The distinction is just stupid. A weapon is a weapon is a weapon. They’re trying to take them all away as it is. The distinction doesn’t matter to them.

        • “…never suggested you were against “Assault-” whatevers. The distinction is just stupid. A weapon is a weapon is a weapon. They’re trying to take them all away as it is. The distinction doesn’t matter to them.”

          The distinction is very important…it’s all about “marketing”.

          The gun-grabbers want the term to scare the public. “Assault” whatever equates in the public mind to “weapon of war”. That term is also designed to scare the public into thinking machine guns are abounding in the millions….and no one needs a machine gun.

          MSR, is also “marketing”, a term designed to make the semi-auto rifles seem less scary, more normal, less threatening.

          Neither of the terms are designed to impart information to non-Fudds (such as people who consider themselves POTG). It doesn’t matter what POTG believe about guns, it is what the low information voter thinks that determines outcomes.

        • @SamIAm. It’s not that I don’t understand why it is marketed that way. It’s a question of whether that marketing is good or not. We’ve ceded ground at every turn to the grabbers. It should be no secret that many American gun owners are not training/own weapons to shoot paper or to shoot a deer. Do you carry a modern sporting pistol for self/home defense? Let’s be honest with ourselves and our constituents here.

        • “Let’s be honest with ourselves and our constituents here.”

          Unnecessary. We, the constituents, already know what is which. It is the ignorant we must address.

          You don’t sell anything by speaking in terms the buyer can’t comprehend. If the buyer misunderstands the terminology, it is necessary to do the translation for the buyer, not expect the buyer to simply accept your nomenclatures, and figure it out for themselves.

          We seem to think that if we keep hammering “truth, justice and the american way”, we are not only righteous, but we are winning the argument against those who understand how to market their product.

        • The ignorant and the left are just as much our constituents as the POTG. Being honest about our rifles and other arms is paramount to forcing the other side to being honest about what they want to do to all guns (see beto). No amount of MSR branding is going to get rid of that. Politics keep moving left. Even the modern right are the lefties of 20 years ago. When do you stop trying to appease the middle? Remember the gay marriage issue? Just 15 years ago everyone in Washington was against it. What changed?

        • “Being honest about our rifles and other arms is paramount to forcing the other side to being honest about what they want to do to all guns (see beto).”

          The anti-gunners will do whatever they want, regardless. Never heard of a sales technique of “forcing” someone to buy the product. And….the anti-gunners are being honest about their intentions.

        • “So we are in agreement then? How about we just call them rifles and leave them at that?”

          Nope. Your proposal is not complicated enough. Lacks any pizazz.

    • No, it’s a shitty attempt to weasel out of assault rifle branding. You can’t appease the left. We should be demanding real assault rifles, not giving in to their framing.

      • “We should be demanding real assault rifles…”

        Which means that the “weasel wording” does in fact matter since we cannot complain that we are denied and then demand access to something we already have.

    • Regarding the people who go on and on, complaining about “assault weapons”, have they ever troubled to define EXACTLY what such arms are? If not, why? For what it might be worth, and just for laughs, forget about the garden variety semiautomatic rifle, such arms having been made and sold in this country since 1907-1908, for those arithematically challenged, that’s more than 100 years ago. There was, by the way, Winchester Model 1903, 22 caliber semiautomatic rifle.

      • ” have they ever troubled to define EXACTLY what such arms are? ”

        A quick perusal of legislation either passed or proposed shows that, yes, they have. An assault weapon is basically any self-loading, rifled long gun that shoots bullets.

    • Both my guns and my vote are for sale to the government and Democrats in particular, and I’ve stated my price before: $$everythingyouhave.

      No takers yet. But I don’t want to stand in the way of utopia, so I’m willing to cut a deal. We’ll start the bidding at $5 billion. They can have all my guns, and I’ll vote the way they want. Seems fair to me. Think they’ll go for it?

      • Careful, a deal with the devil by any other name is still a deal with the devil…. You probably woul not live long enough to spend the first dime yet your vote would appear in perpetuity in elections all over the country..

  1. It is interesting that this Black Friday and Cyber Monday seemed to have few great deals. I only found one on a Savage 11 Long Range Hunter in 6.5 CM that was sold out immediately, and of course before I could snag one. The rest of what I saw was pretty much either uninteresting or not that great of a deal compared to past years. That indicates that it is a sellers market out there, in spite of what I have read.

    • I picked up an 8 shot 20″ Maverick 88 12 gauge over the weekend. $199 at Big 5. That seems like a pretty reasonable price, but wasn’t a huge bargain. I’ve seen them cheaper in the past.

      This put me way over my allotted 1.25 firearms.

      • “shockwave” is on my to-do list…but the way the price is dropping think i’ll wait a bit longer…they always seem to be sold out when I call to check on availability….

  2. Facts and figures the hoplophobic Left will deny, lie and spin to their Agenda.

    Only 1.25 per person…some of you guys (gals) are pikers. Who only wants 0.25 of a firearm?

      • “And Shannon Watts is now really clutching her pearls.”

        Meanwhile, TTAG’s own ‘Dirk Diggler’ at this time of year dreams not of sugarplums dancing in his head, but of personally delivering a fresh pearl necklace to Shannon… 🙂

  3. What about all the ‘trophy’ bring backs from ww2 that I encountered in my youth? Are they in these figures? I’m willing to bet a months retirement that few if any had a paper trail. I’m not talking about just rifles and pistols here. There were quite a few MP40’s, Tommy guns, grease guns and lord knows what else that I saw and shot as a kid.

    And more than a few belt feds. And explosive devices. Of course in those days you could over the counter dynamite fairly easily.

    • once bought a house because the owner included an MP-40 in the deal…that’s what got me started on class III…a lot of that stuff still around….

    • “What about all the ‘trophy’ bring backs from ww2 that I encountered in my youth?”

      I’ve debated that very subject with friends not too long back, and a plausible guess is, not as many as we would like.

      Reasoning, even if they were reasonably well preserved when initially put away, handling from kids like you (nothing personal!) probably corroded them. Personal observation – My grandfather’s old hunting rifle I discovered back in the 70s. All I did was pull it out of the leather and sheepskin rifle sleeve and looked it over. I was careful, (I erroneously thought), and slid it back into the sleeve.

      Fast-forward 40+ years. While moving house, I came across the rifle again. I peeked inside the sleeve, and discovered rusty fingerprints on the receiver, where I had touched it. That was minimal handling.

      Back then, until the 60s or 70s, not many homes had air conditioning dehumidifying homes. I find it very plausible kids (or adults) handling them, in that high humidity on the east coast over decades left a whole lot of them badly corroded. War trophy Lugers probably got the worst of it.

      And how many people, clearing out parents and grandparents homes after death saw them, realized they had no paperwork (MGs) or had no interest in them, simply abandoned them at local police stations?

      • We wo7uld have seen banner headlines if somebody had turned a machine gun or grenades in at a cop shop. And it takes very little maintenance to keep a firearm rust free. I have one that was made before ww2 and it’s rust free.

        I don’t buy that potentially tens of thousands or even more bring backs simply rusted away. And that’s just ww2. What about all the wars since? Korea? Viet Nam? I’ve seen full auto AK’s and PPSH41’s. And m16’s.

        • My Gerwher 98 (aka Mauser) was made in 1916 mid–WWI and is rust free, minor pitting on outside of barrel, bore is smooth, shiney and pit free, action is smooth, furniture is in excellent condition including retaining rings with some dents but no chips, ready to rock for another hundred plus years… 1932 Mosin NOS never fired, til I got it.. looks new, acts new…

  4. I don’t buy the counter argument that fewer Americans own more guns each. My collection has shrunk by about half in the last decade. The reason is simple, I sold most of my old stuff, and all my pre-1900 guns, to raise the money for a short list of modern and practical. Had I the money I’d of kept the old stuff.

    No matter, I’ve the guns I wanted and a closet piled up with ammo and magazines. So I’m good 🙂

      • That’s only one year’s production. Doesn’t account for existing inventory or what’s already stashed away in people’s closets.

        • …in the walls…under the floor…buried out back…good luck [to the govt] ever getting a handle on all this stuff…this ain’t australia….

        • Stashes of ammo are next to useless if you don’t train. Ammo consumption is how you become useful with a gun. This means the combined stockpile and training of the average gun was 20 rounds this year.

          We’d be in a better position if there were 0 gun sales and the current guns had 1000 rounds each put through them in training.

      • This, exactly. I bought only some cheap shot shells and .22LR rounds during last years. That doesn’t mean that I don’t shoot tens of thousands and stock even more for the next scare.
        Primers, propellant, alloying metals and once in a while some rifle bullets is all I buy. Scrap lead is free from my plumber friend.

      • It’s probably a small percentage of overall ammo sales. The sample of people I know are easily well above average in ammo purchase and use but almost none of them reload.

  5. Of course that legally owned firearms by the decent, hard working, law abiding citizens. How many guns criminals have is unknown. We also need to consider how many are in private collections, ever see a picture or Charleston Heston’s gun vault? (Awesome!)

    But the important part is more guns in private hands, more concealed carriers and crime went down. 3.3% in the last year according to the latest FBI report. Kind of blows a hole in that ban guns makes me safer theory the lefties are pushing.

    • The point made by the gun grabbers is that legally owned firearms by the decent, hard working, law abiding citizens makes them criminals. Any gun can be held by a criminal if the law makes that person a criminal.

    • It also only counts guns produced in the US or imported for civilian sale. From what I can tell, LEO trade ins and domestic military surplus (e.g., the M1 Garands, M1 Carbines, 22 trainers and older firearms sold via CMP). Also not counting 80%s

    • recent home invasion repelled by an [unarmed] 87 yr old…cops said laughingly the perp was lucky she wasn’t armed!…encouraging to hear that kind of talk…

  6. So that means (by my count) that I m holding like 25 other peoples guns… And the ammo count comes to only about 18/20 rounds per gun which means there are hundreds of individuals that didn’t get any because I went through a shitload more than that… I guess a couple more people will be disappointed in January since I already plan new gun purchases next month and just ordered 1200 rounds of 7.62×39… my apologies to the 63 + or – persons who will have to do without….

    • Ammo market (or any other market for that matter) doesn’t work this way, if other people want to buy more, manufacturers will make more and importers will bring more. It’s not a zero sum game. No need to apologize. 😄

      • Doesn’t anyone on here recognize a fucking joke when they see it, oh wait You are the ONLY ONE who apparantly took that one seriously, Get a life then add a bit of common sense and find yourself a sense of humor you will probably live longer.. I mean really, what idiot would actually make a statement like that and present it as fact or actually believe it was posted that way uless they still live in their mommys basement. At 70 I have purchased tens of thousands of rounds and I am well aware of the function of the free market.. You have a good day…

      • “Ammo market (or any other market for that matter) doesn’t work this way, if other people want to buy more, manufacturers will make more and importers will bring more.”

        I seem to remember the lack of .22 rimfire was a real thing for quite some time.
        It takes time (and a lot of money) for domestic manufacturers to ramp up production. That money doesn’t grow on trees, and those manufacturers need to balance their current and future production capacities with what they foresee the future market to be.
        For the .22 rimfire market, the manufacturers must take into account the difference between panic buying and a sustainable market. Building production capabilities for panic buying makes little sense to a business, so your idea that they will just make more to meet the current market isn’t true.
        And importation isn’t an “at will” thing either, and not just because those manufacturers face the same economic constraints as native ones do, but because importation involves the government. Once an importer says “Mother, may I?”, the government takes its own sweet time responding, and it usually says, “No, the current demand isn’t normal, it will go down soon, and we don’t want you damaging our own manufacturers with imported goods.”
        So no, it really isn’t as simple as you make it sound.

    • “…and just ordered 1200 rounds of 7.62×39…”

      This led me to actually check on how much ammo I have for my guns that use that ammo.
      Turns out I bought a truckload (figuratively) back when it was under $90 per 1000 round case. And I thought I was being ripped off at that price.

  7. Well I went to the gun range yesterday and shot all my guns. Nice little crowd for an early Tuesday afternoon. My accuracy was profoundly improved as I got a 3X magnifier for my AR on black Friday. And 2 guy’s told me they were building an AR. There’s a helluva lot more guns out there leftards😎😄😏

    • Plus all the “off the table” ones many of us have assembled from 80% receivers that seem to be increasing year over year, so…

    • 10%? No, way too high of a percentage.
      3%? Nope, still way to high.
      1%? Probably not.
      1/10 of 1%? That sounds about right.
      And that’s about as many as there are people in the active duty US Army, and more than twice as many as in the USMC, Active and Reserves combined.

      • That 1/10 of 1% will be highly motivated, well trained, disciplined individuals dedicated to winning at any cost, however I believe the count will start higher and many weaker willed people will be sacrificed early on….

        • when non-compliance becomes common ….expect a few to be sacrificed as “examples”…but that tactic is likely to fail and possibly backfire, as well…then what do they do?

        • I think 3% of gun owners is still grossly optimistic. Maybe 3% would eventually take up arms after they were relatively safe and were sure who would win.
          But when I guess about who’s willing to aggressively fight back against any kind of forceable confiscation, I think that is very, very few people as a percentage. But it is at least 1/10th of 1%. 1/10th of 1% are just looking for an excuse and a chance to prove themselves.
          1/10th of 1% of gun owners in America would rank among the largest active duty armies on earth. And they’re right outside the door.

      • And many will be veterans familiar with how the military operates. One of reasons why the Russians had such a hard time in Chechnya was because many of Chechen forces had been through mandatory military service and knew the doctrines and operations of the Soviet and Russian army. Since they knew how the attacks would happen they arranged their defenses accordingly.

      • Those of us who wouldn’t/couldn’t be fighters could support fighters: weapons, ammo, medical aid, food, shelter, stories to misdirect persuers, etc.

      • “1/10th of 1% of gun owners in America would rank among the largest active duty armies on earth.”

        Yet they are too busy to attend rallies to support gun owners who think they are a minority, and losing the game. Why do we think those too busy to show public support for gun ownership will not be similarly distracted, comes the revolution?

        • One valid reason (among many): face recognition software.
          Add to that the fact that totalitarian governments have a strong tendency to form what many call ‘death squads’ to remove their perceived enemies from the local population, and you end up with few who are willing to make a public display of their intentions. At least among those who are able to think beyond their next breakfast.

        • “Add to that the fact that totalitarian governments have a strong tendency to form what many call ‘death squads’ to remove their perceived enemies from the local population,…”

          A totalitarian government that can do as you describe is certainly capable of squashing a rebellion with little effort. Which should put an end to any thoughts of successful rebellion.

        • “A totalitarian government that can do as you describe is certainly capable of squashing a rebellion with little effort.”

          Not necessarily.
          Even within my limited memory, there were such governments overthrown in the Middle East.
          And keep an eye on Iran.

    • How many do we need to? If even 1%, that’s over 4 MILLION GUNS! I know 1% of mine would be plenty to keep me busy.

    • That doesn’t really matter, what matters is how many people will have protection from a bad person with a gun?
      Many will just turn them over when the local police come for them, but I am sure there will be those that will bury them at a different location.

        • simple philosophy:…acquire as many as you can…any way you can…and hide them everywhere you can…just don’t allow yourself to be disarmed….

  8. Does that count include the 10 naked receivers I have in my parts chest? or is that complete guns only ’cause I have everything necessary to build 10 complete guns with uppers…. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one with this capability and conservatively potential for another 50% or so ARs out there in completeable form is high…

  9. The NSSF says “…continue to purchase guns for lawful purposes”. What other product needs that adjective? Are your purchases of knives, hammers, ropes truly for lawful purposes? Perhaps those items should be added to the 4473 form. If it saves one child…..
    (sarc)

  10. The bulk of U.S. firearms are only owned by 3 per cent of the population. 67 per cent of the U.S. population own no guns at all. Most of the younger generation do not hunt or own firearms. In my area if you go to a gun show the average age is 70 plus.

    • The complete opposite is true, actually. Younger people now own more guns than their parents and grand parents, and are actually more pro gun than their parents and grandparents. I’ve seen the shift with my own eyes. Younger people also own more ARs and “hi capacity” handguns then their previous generations. Conceal carry is at all time high and more popular then ever. When I go to a range now, it’s populated by people under 50 shooting “assault rifles” and glocks primarily. Hand guns are more popular then ever, even among those in the left wing, and handgun ownership is precisely our inroad into the lefts obsession with gun control. Banning handguns is the single most unpopular gun control proposal. When I was a kid, nobody owned handguns or semi autos unless they were a cop, and anyone that did own them and wasnt was perceived as a weirdo. Now you can’t throw a rock without hitting a young man with a Glock. And that’s a good thing. I’m personally not a fan of glocks physically, but I love glock as a company. Glock brought to America the first real effective “hi capacity” 9mm, and it exploded the market for concealable handguns. That explosion has changed the game of gun politics in America by making conceal carry and handgun ownership more popular then ever. I truly believe that in 50 years, people will write about Glock unknowingly saved gun rights in America through their Henry Ford/McDonald’s like approach to handgun ownership. Successfully banning guns thanks to them would be about as doable as banning fast food or cars. And I’m actually 1911 fan boy, and don’t even own a glock, but over time I’ve learned to appreciate good corporate strategy and seeing the bigger picture.

      • Not only did you blow his talking points out of the water but you brought up a demographic shift that is downplayed or outright ignored. ARs and Glocks very much drive sales for the last 20 odd years (more the Glock pre 03 obviously) and even here in the Empire State it is very hard to not find some abomination of an AR for sale or a rack of Glocks. And anyone under 45 at the range probably has one or more of either.

    • Thomas, it depends where you live. I live on the FL gulf coast, and I see you get folks at the range, as well as families, women of all ages, and also “minorities.” A lot of people realize there are a lot of criminals and nutjobs, and the police cannot deploy a SWAT unit in front of every block.

    • Yet just a couple of years ago surveys taken of college students had the antigunners freaking out.

      CCW and gun rights were more popular with college students than with boomers. It had antis running around the web screaming “FUCK! We thought our opposition would all die off yet the Millennials are more into guns than the old people!”.

      Then they started talking free contraception and abortion protections. Why? Because the other thing that polled really, really well with college students was contraception and abortion rights.

      When you actually break down the polling you find that nearly every piece of “common knowledge” about people currently 18-39 is completely wrong regardless of which side of the political aisle that “knowledge” comes from.

      • We boomers did not have first person shooter video games or the internet. A lot of my generation viewed guns as hunting tools, period. They were good with common sense gun laws.

        I woke up to the bullshit in 68 and I’ve been arguing against gun laws since. My trips to the range are less frequent now but when I go I see a lot of young folks, women and minorities using the ranges, And that’s in the liberal Bay Area.

        • As the video games industry pushes certain things, over time, I suspect you’re going to find a growing number of younger people who are totally behind the idea of NFA repeal.

          For exactly the reason you state here. I know a bunch of people who’ve bought VERY expensive guns because they wanted what they liked online. The number one complaint I hear from those people? They can’t get an MP7.

    • that stat is simply not true…and reeks of deliberate misdirection and misinformation from the left…the increasing rate of handgun seizures at airports is an indicator of how common ownership has become….

      • NFA repeal is like spitting into the wind…but the increasing demand for semi-auto lookalikes is actually mollifying that somewhat…the restrictions were easing to a degree until the current administration derailed that train…

    • Guns are expensive. Big collections take a long time to aquire.

      This doesn’t mean the younger crowd isn’t working on it.

    • “The bulk of U.S. firearms are only owned by 3 per cent of the population. 67 per cent of the U.S. population own no guns at all.”

      Those figures are dubious. They come from a phone survey where the caller asked person if they owned guns…like it would be wise to tell a complete stranger that you own guns. Hence, only 33% of respondents admitted to owning a gun.

      So if only 33% of Americans own a gun, then only a few guns nuts(the 3% number) must be buying all the guns.

    • “Most of the younger generation do not hunt or own firearms. In my area if you go to a gun show the average age is 70 plus.”

      I don’t know where you live, but here in Phoenix, those 70+ are far outnumbered by the <35 people.
      Even at the ranges I frequent (both indoor and outdoor), there are far more younger people (men and women) than there are 70+.
      And those younger people don't just bring their own guns, they are renting them, to narrow down their choices for their next purchase.

      Where do you live?

  11. Using my extensive knowledge of mathematical algorithms, that is still 1,000,000,000 lower than it should be. Keep on buying my fellow patriots.

    The best part of this will be when my 7 kids are of legal age. Each will have a pistol, 10/22, 12/20g shotgun, AR, and a hunting rifle. Maybe a lever action if I still like them by the time they leave my home.

  12. I have three grandkids, the very first thing I bought them at birth was a gun & a $500.00 piece of the stock market…, #1 boy got a Henry golden boy, #2 boy got a Ruger Luger target with a bull barrel, #3 girl got a matching set of 22 long derringer’s called the prince & princess… , I’m doing my part keeping firearms in the family…& I’m impressed with how well they all shoot, the kid’s & the weapons.

  13. We have more than enough guns. Seriously one or two ARs is enough. put the rest into ammo and training and growing a pair.

    The ammo numbers are like 20rounds a gun. Stop wasting money on a tenth AR and actually get good!

    I know, it’s hard, I have the same problem. There’s a critical Gap in my collection I need a 13.7in AR. But I resist the urge, grit my teeth and order another case of .223 and run another weekend of drills.

    100 ARs won’t save you if you’re 100lbs overweight and can’t run and gun under stress in the dark rain etc.

    • Absolutely correct, Dan. Get an AR, configure it so it works for you, then maybe get one or two more for backups (two is one, one is none). After that, unless you intend to arm all your neighbors when the zombies come over the hill, use your time and money to train and actually KNOW how to use your AR.

      Totally true…two weeks ago I was at a gathering where the topic eventually meandered over to guns and shooting ranges. One of the men exclaimed that he had a single gun, an AR-15. Then he admitted that he got it a few years ago and has gone to the range only one single time with it. When he took it out of the case to show me, he had absolutely no idea how to insert/change the mag, charge a round into battery, or anything. He didn’t even know that the stock extended and you can open up the gun by removing a pin. And the gun was bone dry with no lube whatsoever.

      I’m taking him to the range to teach him how to use it so he won’t be a complete Fudd.

  14. Ahhh, the utter futility of gun control; I love it.

    Given that this study only goes back to 1986 (how many pre 86 firearms are still going strong? I know I own 3 myself) I’d say the actual number is EASILY north of 500M and probably somewhere in the 600M neighborhood.

      • of course…to be “stylish”..i’ve cut it down quite a bit…now occupies a permanent home up under the bar…

    • Also don’t forget to include anything that never went back into the “normal” chain of commerce pre-1968, and add anything that wasn’t properly registered pre-1934 and….don’t forget to include that anything made prior to 1899 is not even considered a firearm! I would say total guns in the US is at or around 700mil.

  15. Liberals cannot even handle the homeless issue in the streets of SF, as well as the filth and drugs, or the insane crime rate in several of their libtard metro areas, yet they want to perfect “gun control.” That’s the problem with big government and crazy politicians, they cannot even walk and they want to run.
    The “assault rifle” trend is just a lure, ideally they want to control handguns, CCW licenses, stand your ground and castle doctrine.
    If you have not read 1984 (Orwell) just do it, the concept of “doublethink” is our reality, some politicians and journalists change the meaning of words in order to confuse and control the cattle.

  16. Buy it. Cache it and buy more. Ammo Ammo Ammo. Once the Libs lose the fight on firearms. Ammo will be next. In some states that attack has already begun. As far as firearms go. 2 or 3 of each caliber depending on family size. 9mm,556,308 and shotgun. Possibly a 22 since ammo is cheap and yes they can be effective. Also don’t forget the Tannerite. Excellent for perimeter defense. Along with bird houses and feeders. Lawn ornaments and decorative plastic rocks. If you plan on fighting:
    Josey Wales: “Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you’re not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win. That’s just the way it is”. Although I believe taking the fight to the enemy is the best tactic. Cut the head off the snake before it can bite you. The question is do you wait for the snake to come to you or due you hunt it down. Keep Your Powder Dry.
    Keep Your Powder Dry

    • “Once the Libs lose the fight on firearms. Ammo will be next.”

      Not a chance. Guns are constitutional, therefore, gun groceries are constitutional.

      We need to get some lawsuits rolling when some state passes an ammo microstamping law…

  17. Don’t understand how ATF (or anyone) can account for the firearms in circulation before background checks were required, but if a government agency publishes a statistic (non-round numbers are often published to make a stat seem more credible), well, who are we to disagree.

    The joy of the gun ownership stat is that 2A supporters can use the number to declare that gun ownership is more widespread and common than anti-gunners want to admit. And ant-gunners can use the stat to prove there are too many guns in private hands, which automatically translate to 93 million killings by gun owners every day *(or something).

    * https://dailycaller.com/2017/06/14/mcauliffe-claims-gun-violence-kills-93-million-americans-a-day-video/

  18. “Firearms-ammunition manufacturing accounted for nearly 12,000 employees producing over $4.1 billion in goods shipped in 2017. An estimated 8.1 billion rounds, of all calibers and gauges, were produced in 2018 for the U.S. market.”

    So…maybe..Politicians should STOP fucking with the American people…Just a thought I’m not suggesting anything…just a word to the wise stop poking the the hornets nest.

    • Been saying that myself. Not only that, but the dumbasses NEVER even think about how many tax $$$ that equates to!!! What about the Pittman-Robertson Act which pays for all of the parks, wildlife agencies, department of the interior, National Park Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife, etc. The loss of those tax $$$ actually doubles, or more…..you lose the taxes and then those agencies have to be funded strictly through the federal government.

  19. Sweet pic of all those FN FNCs. Too bad they can’t be imported anymore since the passing of yet another useless piece of anti-gun regulation/appeasement so many years ago.

  20. First, the article thumbnail of all those FN FNCs- HHHhhnnnggggggg

    Second, half of the rifles produced in 2017 were MSRs, but I wonder how many of the Pistols produced were also MSRs, but in “pistol” form.

    • Don’t forget the Shockwave and the like. They are classified by the ATF as “Firearms”. Not shotguns, not handguns but merely firearms.

      • ATF clearly wants to lighten its workload…short-barreled shotguns..that aren’t shotguns…was one way to do it….

  21. As the Ownership numbers keep climbing by counting the number of guns being produced by manufactures, with higher and higher “ownership by the people” is anyone subtracting the guns being confiscated and destroyed by the government? Or does no one want to include those numbers? Just saying. If you want an accurate number something has to give.

    • “As the Ownership numbers keep climbing by counting the number of guns being produced by manufactures…”

      Those numbers are only estimates, because neither gun nor ammo manufacturers make their output public, or even to the government.
      Only imports are actually counted anywhere near accurately.
      And illegal imports are obviously not counted, as well as homemade guns (legally or otherwise).
      But then, guns that are destroyed, either on purpose of through neglect, can’t be counted either. But the former far outnumber the latter.
      And, as has been pointed out earlier, those guns owned before November 1998 simply can’t be counted, and estimates are wildly inaccurate, as there’s just no way to get a grip on just how many there were in that time period, and how many of those are still here now.
      So any number we see that purports to say how many guns there are in the US now is just an estimate, either lifted from someone else’s estimate, or a wild guess (which is what that someone else’s estimate is).

  22. This is gonna make Granny more nervouser than three long tailed tomcats in a room full of rocking chairs. Her flour sack bloomers gonna wad up right past the hemroids. She hated Granpap’s Blunderbuss cause every time he took it down she’d end up with a sack full of rabbits or squirrels to clean, whilst he’d quench his powerful thirst from the five gallon glass jug he kept hid in the old stump out behind the barn. Next thing you know he’d come in the house dropping his galuses wantin’ sumpin… to eat.

  23. Din dok damn General Ching , that countries got a lot of gunms. Might not be good idea you takey no over

  24. a rifle behind every blade of grass:
    doesnt matter if he really said it or not
    its true regardless
    and thats all that really matters

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