“Really? Three percent of American gun owners own half the guns? That seems wildly off the mark. On the surface, this survey sounds like part of the ongoing effort to minimize gun ownership to make more gun control seem politically achievable.” – The NSSF’s Michael Bazinet in America’s Gun Stockpilers [via theatlantic.com]
If I’m not mistaken, their latest survey claims only 55 million firearm owners. If there are about 310 million firearms, and 3% of that 55 million owns half, that would require each of them to own about 94 guns each.
Yeah, sounds a little high.
While it certainly sounds high, it sounds like a goal to me 🙂
Shoot for the moon!
Geez, I am waaaaaay behind the pace.
Right on, Andrew! No pain, no gain. Who makes it happen? I make it happen.
This is a better statement on how many Americans feel the need to lie to survey takers about ownership . The real numbers would be at least three times the number of ownership . I for one am not going to lie about owning a gun , my mommy told me never to lie . I do own an arsenal .
He misquoted, 3% of Americans… but it’s deceptive when they tie a large household’s guns all to the adult male… why do you suppose…
The thing is they assume that overall ownership is declining BUT admit that female ownership is growing. Then they say gun owners are buying more guns. Well MAYBE thsts becuse many of these formerly one gun owner households are now two gun owner households.
Also they ignore the data from Illinois andnither states that require ownership permits. The number of FOID cards is increasing. Since somebody who already owns a fire arm already has a card, a new FOID card means a new IL fire arms owner.
I don’t currently have a 3 figure collection, but dozens of guys I know pretty well have collections in the 300-1000+ range.
Most folks I know are in the practical 8-20 range, but there are a bunch of collectors out there. I’ve always looked at the ~310MM number as rather low. Pre-GCA’68, there was no way of counting…
But… that “number” is just some nonsense to marginalize gun ownership.
Well, back before that unfortunate boating accident. . .
Just went back and found this TTAG article- http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/07/dean-weingarten/how-many-guns-are-there-in-america/
It says in 2012 there were an estimated 347 million guns in America. Looking at figures there were 10.8 million firearms produced in 2013, and 9 million in 2014. With record background checks and many people making their own firearms at home lets say 2015 and 2016 are both at 11 million guns produced. That would mean 42 million guns produced since that 2012 statistic landing us at a conservative 390 million guns in America (good possibility it is more).
If his 3% statistic is true that would mean 1,650,000 gun owners own 118 guns each. That sounds way high.
I’m trying. 😉
Perhaps they meant to say that 97% of Americans own 50% of the guns. Can’t check because they don’t seem to have released the data on the survey, Just the sensationalized press release.
Even if 97% of Americans own 50% of the guns, that still means the other 50% are owned by the remaining 3%, which still means that they are claiming ~1.6 million Americans own around 100 guns apiece.
Life goals 😀
If someone out there has 94 guns, I am clearly disadvantaged, and should receive government support until I reach parity. When can I expect my first subsidy payment?
I have four and my household has six. I am not disadvantaged by the man with 100 guns. The guy that has 10,000 rounds for one gun? Yeah he has the advantage.
Some say that’s high. Others say, “If Only”
In the picture at the top of the article, the guy carrying the AK has the magazine in backwards?
How does one even do that? All I can think is it’s to show that the demonstration gun is truly inoperable… as if “those whose panties shall become twisted” would know the difference.
If it was in correctly, the magazine could poke the shoulder pretty good. Perhaps just for ease of carrying slung? Or it’s just a scary black gun posed with an actor in a scary black shirt and little details are for little people whose opinions need to be dictated to them anyway ….
To destroy something, you have to define it. It is hilarious watching all these anti’s try to define gun culture and put numbers of gun ownership together. No one in the gun community cares about how it is defined or what the average number of firearms pet owner is. The liberal mental struggle is fantastic, too damn afraid to learn or confront the facts, but they work like hell to make it sound credible. They just can’t swallow the idea that no one knows how many guns are in the publics hands. You can’t destroy what you don’t understand. That is why they will continue to lose.
And *that* is why we want UBC, which will accomplish jack shit except to necessitate an (illegal, unconstitutional) registry. Once we know exactly how many and where and who, we can actually pass some meaningful laws and enforce the billy murderous crap out of them. Surrender them all, right now, or we will kill you and everyone in your home when we arrive.
If an average schlub like me is (or was before the boating accident) one of their “Super Owners,” then I gotta call Shenanigans on that estimation.
Shhhh… Be vewy, vewy quiet.
We WANT the libtards to think there’s only a handful of us. We WANT them to think they can insult us, demonize us, ridicule us, marginalize us to score political points.
That way, on November 9th, they can sit around and scratch their heads, wondering what went wrong.
Correct. Let the libtards snuggle in their little nest of snowflakes and delusion.
Honestly at this point I would be down for an all-stops-out purge after an election.
Liberalism is incompatible with classical western values, liberty, peace, wealth creation, and everything else that has made us different than every other crap civilization that has existed.
Allowing a large portion of the population to denegrate the constitution, the only thing that makes your civilization special, is worse than treason. Selling secrets to the Soviets probably less reprehensible than turning Americans INTO Soviets. We survived leaked secrets with some values intact. One look at the alcoholic godless former block countries shows they did not fair as well.
The point is, being too squeamish to deprive the of life without “due process of law” with the intent and effect of defending the constitution does not make you “better” than the liberals. Lack of action does not indicate moral superiority. It shows weakness.
And no, defending the constitution with lethal preemptive strikes does not “change who we are” any more than burning Tories out of their houses made the 13 colonies the new Spanish empire.
I suggest the documentary “The Romanovs-The History of the Russian Dynasty” that can be found in its entirety on YouTube. It features several examples of how the least scrupulous individual triumphed as a result of swift action that others were unwilling to take. But it also shows numerous examples of the more virtuous players striking early and NOT turning into a brutal tyrant.
The point is: when you act is not important. It’s the WHY that matters. This is probably the biggest mental disconnect victimizing people of Liberty. The “Don’t shoot first” mentality is more dangerous than anything the enemy can throw at you.
It’s coming, I expect from both sides… and it will be ugly.
Sorry for typos. Was on Mobile
What are you going to call your night of the long knives? Operation hummingbird was used previously.
So I’m working on the goal of 94 guns. I guess I’m part of the problem.
Working steadily in that direction!!! 94? Maybe in a few years……..
Great goal, indeed!
I know some people who own a ton (possibly literally) of guns but for each of them I know at least a dozen who own one or two.
I also find the numbers to be suspect.
I just thought of something, How many firearms does the USG own? Counting cops,Army,navy,CMP etc and all USG employees? Is that number included in the “facts” they keep parading around?
I’d be more interested in hearing how many guns the average criminal who utilizes them owns. One or none, I’d bet. Doesn’t really matter how many a law abiding person has, 1 or 200, still no danger to anyone.
When you say “own”, are you meaning that he purchased with a background check, using a credit card, etc., or are we talking about “stole fair and square” as equating “own”?
In my mind, you don’t own what you steal or borrow. Rhetorical question really, since actual criminals and their crimes are not the focus of any gun control surveys.
Sounds like gun inequality. Anyone else is boiling with anger?
How come with tens of millions of new guns produced each year we are still using the few year old statistic of 300 million guns? Just this year Ruger alone has made over 2 million guns and is working on 4 million. By now I would think we could possibly be around 350 million guns especially considering we don’t know the exact amount from pre-68 and many people make their own from 80% lowers and even some from scratch that don’t get recorded.
Liberals lie.
Again, end of story.
Jabberwocky…that’s all. As mentioned gun ownership is exploding in Illinois(and elsewhere). My goal is to be that 3% lol
Surely if gun owners are so few in numbers, we should be cherished and adored by the progressives! They seem to want everyone to think they’re welcoming to all minorities!!!
Bottom line…if you have to lie this hard, you have no platform to stand on. We are winning and they are getting desperate.
Even if true, the rights of the 3% are constitutionally protected from the political whims of the 97%.
We should never let anyone forget that protecting the rights of any minority or individual is inherently important, even when it’s unpopular. Otherwise you have no moral authority to protest when they come after your rights.
“We should never let anyone forget that protecting the rights of any minority or individual is inherently important, even when it’s unpopular. Otherwise you have no moral authority to protest when they come after your rights” Exactly. Except when the brainwashed gun owners argue the opposite for mandatory medical procedures.
94 guns? I have some relatives with lots more. I feel like a piker.
“…94 guns each.”
Was working my way to that goal but then there was that ill-fated 3-hour boat tour…
;-D
Wanna hear more lies? Check out the latest New Yorker – http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/19/a-buried-coup-detat-in-the-united-states
What the heck is a Colt .23 machine gun?
I went about 25 years owning something like 2-3 guns (all Pythons, BTW), that says *nothing* about the support I had for the RKBA and the 2A. IOW, WTF is the point of that claim? Is it supposed to be meaningful in some way?
I would like to have two or three good revolvers…or four or five. I would like to have a good 70 series 1911 and maybe a good custom one down the road. I need a .308 battle rifle. Would like to have an expert long range rig in 6.5 Creedmoor. Maybe a pocket .380 and a full size 9mm like a CZ 75. I’m intrigued by the SBR but not sold on it. Gotta have an AK and I don’t have a pump shotgun yet. Loving my semi auto 12 gauge. Would like to have a dedicated sporting clays shotgun. 50BMG…why not?!
Highest estimate is that I wind up owning 20 guns before I set sail. I could satisfy that list for $30-40,000…maybe $50,000. Lord knows I’ve pissed away more than that on God knows what.
I’ve spent much of my money on decent food, exotic/crazy women, recreational chemicals, nice/fast cars, and firearms.
The rest I’ve wasted.
The whiners and bliss ninnies just like to hold hands and hear themselves talk. 117 guns, 94, or whatever number it is, makes no difference. You can only shoot one at a time (properly, anyway. Two is for the movies.)
As for me, 94 seems like a very worthwhile goal!
Tom
All of these gun ownership articles, numbers, statistics, and percentages are pure baloney, wishful thinking, guesses, and approximations. No POTG will ever give any stranger (or even a family member) a truthful reply as to gun ownership–it is much too volatile a subject–and any answer than “none” or “no” can and will come back to bite you–so, the proper answers to the “survey” questions are always NONE and NO!!! Deplorable DMD
Valid statistical analysis requires good data. I seriously doubt that good data is to be had. Their studies are highly ornamented guesswork.
Speaking (only) for myself and people in some way like me: they don’t know, they don’t have any way of knowing, and I’m not telling – except to say that any firearms I might ever have owned were lost in a tragic boating accident. Maybe I speak for myself alone, maybe not. I don’t know and these pointy-heads don’t either.
It’s ironic and hypocritical that they ignore several other demographics that consist of small percentages of the population. For example, the LGBTQ group, a small minority who need to get dozens of new rights that will infringe upon the rights of the rest of the population.
Such is the twisted logic of the left…