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How many would you estimate?
Doc
Member Posts: 13,899 ✭✭✭
It is reported that about 40% of adults in America own at least one firearm. I can't argue with that figure. Probably pretty close based on my observations.
But I wonder how many guns the average gun owner owns? There are folks who are really into their hobby and own huge collections. There are a couple guys on this forum who fall into that category. There are also many people who only own one gun.
One of my friends owns one gun, a SIG 40 S&W he uses for personal defense. Not into hunting or shooting he wants one gun.
I met a man when I lived in Utah who had so many guns I can only guess at the number. Maybe a couple thousand. They were stacked in every room of his house and filled the basement.
Between those two extremes lie all the rest of us. Again, based on my personal observations of friends who own guns I would estimate the average number to be around 10. I think the average shooter has 2-3 22 caliber arms (rifle and pistol), a couple of shotguns, one or two center fire rifles, a defensive pistol and a couple of miscellaneous arms.
I think 10 is a good estimate. What say the Forum?
But I wonder how many guns the average gun owner owns? There are folks who are really into their hobby and own huge collections. There are a couple guys on this forum who fall into that category. There are also many people who only own one gun.
One of my friends owns one gun, a SIG 40 S&W he uses for personal defense. Not into hunting or shooting he wants one gun.
I met a man when I lived in Utah who had so many guns I can only guess at the number. Maybe a couple thousand. They were stacked in every room of his house and filled the basement.
Between those two extremes lie all the rest of us. Again, based on my personal observations of friends who own guns I would estimate the average number to be around 10. I think the average shooter has 2-3 22 caliber arms (rifle and pistol), a couple of shotguns, one or two center fire rifles, a defensive pistol and a couple of miscellaneous arms.
I think 10 is a good estimate. What say the Forum?
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Too old to live...too young to die...
Too old to live...too young to die...
Comments
has a Tractor Supply store. The sell Cannon gun safes. A LOT of Cannon gun safes, according to an employee.
I'm trying to hold up my end.[:D]
when I was growing up the vast majority of any one I knew owning a gun had one maybe two if lucky a 22 and /or a 12 ga very few handguns , but I think it more of being poor limited that number greatly
not they did not want more but the family always were 1st priority and the guns were just a hunting tool 90% of the time a few handguns for protection but far in-between to see one .
when I was in my late teens when I started meeting people who had the means to have more than one any one with more than ten was still rare ( other than the dealers of course )
now as you say some have so many I doubt if they know the number
as for me I fall on the low side of ownership , would I like more ? well yes but practicality and funds come in to play very fast [:D][:D]
And not the average number of guns? But probably the "median" would be closer to the data you're after.
Please guys. The "boating accident" comments were funny when they were new but not any longer. If you don't wish to participate in the discussion that's fine.
As I said, in my experience people typically have more than five. Everyone I am close to owns at least 10 guns save the one guy I mentioned who has only one. One man has six. Most seem to have between 20 and 30.
Too old to live...too young to die...
Everybody has their hobbies and likes. I have several friends that have well over a hundred, but I would say most people around here 3-5 range. A couple of pistols .22 and 9mm/.38, a 30-06 hunting rifle, a .22 rifle and a pump 12 gauge shotgun.
dont forget Marlin 30-30 lever action
I haven't been in a boat in 15 years.
quote:Originally posted by jltrent
Everybody has their hobbies and likes. I have several friends that have well over a hundred, but I would say most people around here 3-5 range. A couple of pistols .22 and 9mm/.38, a 30-06 hunting rifle, a .22 rifle and a pump 12 gauge shotgun.
dont forget Marlin 30-30 lever action
aint that the truth..........[:D]
Think of it this way. At one end of the spectrum, we've got the guy with thousands of guns. It in all America, there aren't many of him. Just like, I suspect, there aren't a lot with only one.
If you graphed all the Gun owners in America, I think you'd get a peak somewhere above 10. Closer to 15. And as the baby boomers die off, that number will grow.
But I'm just guessing.
Most aren't real big on sharing this data so I would guess 10-12 is an average.
I would guess that bigoutside is about right. A Bell Curve with the peak at maybe 10-12.
And that 3% owns half of that 265 million guns.
With over 325 million Americans and a household size of 3.5...
Making about 93 million households in the US today.
With half of the 265 million guns owned by 2.8 million households and 91.2 million owning the other half.
That makes about 47 guns on average in 2.8 million households.
The number stated earlier of 40% of Americans (two of every five) gun owners would also make sense.
Taking 3% off the 40% leaves 37% owning half of the 265 million or about four guns per household.
I suspect that 37% of all house holds has between 2 to 6 guns and that 3% owns a collection upwards of 50 guns.
I also suspect that two thirds (two of every three) of all households has access to at least one gun.
I think there are about 90-100M Americans who own at least one gun. So the average is 3 (or less) per owner using that 300M figure. Too low IMO. I believe there are more like 700M guns in private hands. Maybe up to a billion in my 100M owners and 10 guns per owner average is correct.
True that we will never know for certain. All speculation. But I think about the fact that Winchester sold about 20 million M94s, S&W sold about 8M Model 10s, and Lord only knows how many ARs have been sold. There is a large number of specific gun models that are known to be in the millions of units in production. Plus the thousands of guns that didn't sell quite that many but all add up.
I think there's a hell of a lot of guns out there...
Too old to live...too young to die...
I read in a magazine once a long time ago, that something like 95% of all gun owners own more than one gun.
I have heard the 200M figure for years on the number of guns in America and I always thought that number was low. Now I am seeing 300M and I think it's still low.
I think there are about 90-100M Americans who own at least one gun. So the average is 3 (or less) per owner using that 300M figure. Too low IMO. I believe there are more like 700M guns in private hands. Maybe up to a billion in my 100M owners and 10 guns per owner average is correct.
True that we will never know for certain. All speculation. But I think about the fact that Winchester sold about 20 million M94s, S&W sold about 8M Model 10s, and Lord only knows how many ARs have been sold. There is a large number of specific gun models that are known to be in the millions of units in production. Plus the thousands of guns that didn't sell quite that many but all add up.
I think there's a hell of a lot of guns out there...
Notice I used 400 million in my figure, and, like you, I think there are more than that.
I would bet it's in the 8-10 range.
I read in a magazine once a long time ago, that something like 95% of all gun owners own more than one gun.
I was thinking 10, too for regular folks. Now gang members I'm thinking 5 a member. Count one count all.