Only 30% to 50% of US households have guns - but the US holds 35-50% of all the guns in the world

[dpbrown]

The USA ranks eighth worldwide in handgun deaths per capita, and twelfth in rifles, shotguns, and other large firearms.

And this statistic places the U.S. http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/mor_int_sel_har_by_han_dis_percap-harm-handgun-discharge-per-capita">second in the world in handgun-related suicide.

According to the 2007 Small Arms Survey, the United States, with less than 5 percent of the world's population, owns about 35 to 50 percent of the world's civilian-owned guns.

Of the 270 million guns in the United States, probably 70 million are handguns.

There are around 100 million households in the United States.

That means that about 30 to 50 million households in the United States alone own 35-50% of all the guns in the world.

Yet with all that amazing Second Amendment firepower, these households have been unable or unwilling to prevent the slide to fascism in this country.

Seems that the possession of overwhelming personal firepower actually has no effect on the relative ability of a government to become oppressive, and just pretty much leads to death and suicide.

I'd say there's room for some common sense gun control in there.

[Richard Steele]

1. 30 to 50 percent of housholds? LOL! That MOE doesn't inspire confidence in anything that follows.

:eyes:

[dpbrown]

6. it's still a minority.

A pushy minority, but a minority.

[uncle ray]

11. i'd like to see you unite the majority...n/t.

[bluestateguy]

2. We have common sense gun laws. We just need to enforce them.

This is just like the crap over immigration: we can't or won't enforce our laws, so lets draw up new laws.

This loser who shot up the mall yesterday STOLE a gun from a relative. That's a crime according to existing law. Why wasn't he caught and prosecuted for that?

[Hippo_Tron]

4. The existing immigration laws are not practical

As for guns, I'll get back to you on that one when I've had a chance to do some research.

[AndyTiedye]

3. ALL of the 29% Who Still Support Bush** are Included in that 30-50% Who Own Guns

Yet with all that amazing Second Amendment firepower, these households have been unable or unwilling to prevent the slide to fascism in this country.

Thanks to the NRA, most of the gun owners are on the side of the fascists.

[beevul]

5. Thats always good for a laugh.

Even if its the most outlandish bullshit anyone ever heard.

You can sit here and blame the nra to your hearts content. Paint them with broad strokes. Demonize them like no other.

Just remember, it is because of people with horseshit attitudes toward guns that do things like push bans on rifles that are used the least of all in homicides and call it "reasonable" (and a bunch of other things), that so many people who value thier rights concerning firearms have felt they have nowhere else to turn, except away from the Democratic party (and toward groups like the nra).

Whatever the republicans have gained because of the firearm issue, they owe it all to people with bad attidues toward guns. No matter what you say, no matter what words you use, no matter how you spin it, you are just going to have to live with that if your one of them.

Oh, and answer me one simple question(or 2):

You say:

"Thanks to the NRA, most of the gun owners are on the side of the fascists."


Would you have it any other way?

(that means "would rather have them voting Democrat?)

If the answer is no, your complaints don't really mean alot.

If the answer is yes, the logical question to follow is "what are you willing to do to make that happen?"

[AndyTiedye]

7. You Seem to Have Conceded My Point

It does not matter what we do now with regard to gun control because the NRA will continue to harp on the AWB (as you just did). The AWB was passed 13 years ago and expired 3 years ago.
Since then the Democratic party has all but surrendered on gun control, but that isn't good enough for the NRA.

Would I have it any other way? (that means "would you rather have them voting Democrat" (sic))

Of course, but I don't see any way that is going to happen.

[beevul]

15. Hardly.

"It does not matter what we do now with regard to gun control because the NRA will continue to harp on the AWB (as you just did). The AWB was passed 13 years ago and expired 3 years ago.
Since then the Democratic party has all but surrendered on gun control, but that isn't good enough for the NRA."

I wasn't harping on the AWB per se, I was pointing out that gun owners and the nra didn't just wake up and decide to vote republican one day on a whim. They were PROMPTED to do so. Nudged in that direction, if you will. And that its aweful dishonest to say anything about how gun owners vote or who they or the nra support, without some acknowledgement of the nudging I spoke of, and who was doing it.

You say that "the Democratic party has all but surrendered on gun control", but they have to LOOK like they have done so, and they don't. Hr1022 has like 50+ Democratics that have signed on to it. Hr1022 would ban tens of millions of firearms. You got Kucinich proposing to ban all handguns. You got Obama on record saying "ban all semi-automatics". You got Hillary mostly dodging the issue of guns, but voting 100% of the time supporting the interests of the Brady Campaign. You got McCarthy trying to sell a ban that bans things...but she doesn't even know what some of those things are that the ban "bans".

Those people...are the FACE of the Democratic Party. If the party had the same history with abortion, and the FACE of the party had a look on abortion parallel to that which it has on guns, don't you think people would have a hard time buying that "the Democratic party has all but surrendered on gun control"?

I believe progress could be made, but doing what they're doing now isn't going to get it done.

[michreject]

17. NRA is a easy blame

How can they be so powerful with only 4 million members?

[Maine-ah]

8. I wonder what percentage of LEGAL gun owners

commit crimes with their licensed and legally owned guns. I'd also like to know where ownership is. For example, are most of the rifles & shot guns owned in the more rural areas where they're used more for hunting purposes.

I'm a legal gun owner. We have 2.

[The Straight Story]

9. we need to do a better job distributing guns then

:rofl:

[Tejas]

10. your math isn't adding up

Actually, it doesn't even look like math.


"Of the 270 million guns in the United States, probably 70 million are handguns.

plus

There are around 100 million households in the United States.

equals

That means that about 30 to 50 million households in the United States alone own 35-50% of all the guns in the world."


huh?

[snooper2]

12. It's Bush Math

nt...

[michreject]

18. Where's Bill when you need him

He's good for all kinds of useless stats.

[NeedleCast]

13. Source of Stats

That means that about 30 to 50 million households in the United States alone own 35-50% of all the guns in the world.

That doesn't sound accurate at all considering the number of guns that can be found in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc (and I'm speaking of the Iraqis and Afghani ownership, not the US military presence). Pretty much every civilian I met in Afghanistan had multiple weapons in their house.

[Tejas]

14. the OP is apples/oranges

The DOJ has approximated the number of owners at 65-80 million, the total of firearms being 170-200 million.

low side: 300m population / 65m gunowners = 22% of the US population are gunowners
high side: 300m population / 80m gunowners = 27% of the US population are gunowners

That said, and being that there isn't a similar figure in the OP, I'm going to run with one I saw the other day that stated there are 850,000,000 million smallarms worldwide.
(I'll see if I can dig it up.)

850m / 170m = 20% of worldwide smallarms ownership is by 22%-27% of the US population.
850m / 200m = 24% of worldwide smallarms ownership is by 22%-27% of the US population.

So maybe?
"ONLY 1/4 of the US population has guns, BUT that's 1/5 to 1/4 of the world's guns"



*Absent a DOJ number on "households with guns", the OP was not clear to me. :)



edited to add ONLY/BUT

[benEzra]

16. The U.S. has one of the LOWEST suicide rates in the industrialized world...

below that of Canada, the UK, most of Europe, and Japan. You certainly can't correlate gun ownership with higher suicide rates.

BTW, I'm OK with common-sense gun control, if by that you mean the point-of-sale background check, prohibition on possession and use by criminals, prosecution of traffickers and straw purchasers, and restrictions on automatic weapons, sound-suppressed firearms, guns over .50 caliber, Kevlar-piercing handgun ammunition, and whatnot.

If you mean bans on the lawful and responsible ownership of handguns, bans on the most popular civilian rifles in America (the "assault weapon" bait-and-switch), or restricting all firearms to pre-1861 magazine capacities (as the Bradyites do), then forget it.

[melm00se]

19. bingo

according to here:
http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide_rates/en/index.html

the USA is 38th for men and 47th for women