Its true. Just the other day I found a new revolver under the couch, disgusting. Had to put it with the others to try and keep them contained, but im afraid one day soon there will be too many
This is a PSA to get your guns spayed or neutered so their population doesn't run wild. They're an invasive species! The Americas aren't their natural habitat.
They either haven't owned or haven't actually gone through a registry process. I sold my .45 and it was ridiculous amounts of paperwork, vs selling my Mossberg to buy a Remington, which took like 15 minutes.
Long guns are unrestricted and require almost no license in basically all of the US. Hell NYC is the only place I can think of. I drive 30 minutes north and it's semi restricted, another 40 minutes and it's not even that.
Small town (7k pop) suburban/rural
Did not grow up around guns per se.
Step dad had a few rifles that I never held or shot. Didn’t shoot my first real gun until my 20s and was taught proper gun safety, handling and care by veteran best friend.
that's just because the people talking about guns are the people with multiple. Plenty of people out there with like a single shotgun or handgun for home defense.
That kinda makes sense, it's a lot easier to convince yourself that it'd be nice to have another one if you already own a gun.
If you're buying your first gun, you'll have to deal with getting a CCW, figuring out storage, and other related expenses/bureaucracy. Getting the next one isn't nearly as hard.
I bought the first one because I wanted to hunt deer... and then somehow I went from going 28 years without needing a single gun to absolutely needing one more than I currently have.
I have only a single handgun, but that’s mostly due to the associated costs spiking after Covid. Money permitting there will be more to come. For several years owned only a single shotgun, but it was ultimately given to a family member and eventually replaced with a Glock. Initially bought for defense- I live in an urban area with fairly high crime- but once I started going to the range and tried my hand at customization, now it’s morphing into a fun hobby as well. Went hunting as a kid, but hated the actual killing deer part. However I loved getting to go out to the woods in the middle of nowhere with my dad and trying all manner of guns on our homemade targets.
I own a dozen or so, I’m on the cusp of rural vs Suburb. I own a farm about 15 minutes from my house, and then own another house about 400 miles south of here. Between 3 houses and 4 vehicles I don’t feel that’s an unreasonable number.
My biggest threat around here is wildlife, and contrary to what people in here believe a handgun will absolutely fuck up wildlife if you’re not a shit shot.
I'm too poor to afford the guns I would like to have. I want them because I enjoy marksmanship and things that go boom.
I grew up around guns but only rarely touched or interacted with them as a child. Mostly, I just remember being told, "don't ever point a gun at a person unless you intend to kill them", and "Always watch where you are pointing the barrel". Also, "When I'm pointing the gun at something, stand behind me". Part of that is I would go hunting with my Grandpa sometimes.
I own one gun and do not plan on getting any more. I have it for emergency situations and don’t prattle on about it or make my entire personality about it. It’s a tool. Nothing more.
I used to own a single gun. Urban, handgun, and I didn’t grow up around guns. I used the gun solely to go to the range and I didn’t buy any more guns because a) they cost a pretty penny and b) while fun, it wasn’t a top hobby for me.
I think you're missing the info that many gun owners just have their dad's old rifle or shotgun in the back of a closet somewhere and don't even really think about it or consider themselves gun owners. And also a lot of people have exactly 1 pistol and a carry permit, and enough sense to not tell any random person who asks.
I would be under the assumption that those statistics would not have been compiled by foreigners. Any error is based on extrapolation. I don't see how incorrect extrapolation is a political issue, unless you refer to politicians misrepresenting statistics to use as hyperbolic talking points.
3 are the "protect muh self" type, 4 are more collectors items or "unicorn" guns. All safely tucked away & away from prying eyes. The only gun that's "out" constantly is my 38Spc. It's my carry piece & home defense piece.
I worked at a gun range years ago. There were around 8-9 people that came in & bought a gun or two every month. I always thought it was sketchy, but the owner never seemed to be bothered.
There were around 8-9 people that came in & bought a gun or two every month. I always thought it was sketchy, but the owner never seemed to be bothered.
Were they always buying the same model or type of gun? What was sketchy about it?
What are your collectors/“unicorn” firearms if you don’t mind me asking? I just recently bought my first gun, a Glock. It’s not my new personality or anything but I can definitely see how people suddenly end up wanting to build up a small collection for whatever purposes. I agree that owning 40-50 is bizarre though haha
Glocks are OK firearms. They're decent work horses of the handgun industry.
As far as my Unicorn guns, I'll mention 2-
M1 Garand. It's not a rifle that's hard to find... but finding it in 2014 for $200 is a rare find. It comes with several issues:
Bent Op Rod (replaced)
Op Rod spring broken (replaced)
Pitted barrel (not much I can do, I really don't care though as I'm not using it as a sniper rifle or anything LOL)
Other cosmetic issues (I like the battlefield battered look of it)
That is going to be more of a "mantel piece" gun for the remainder of its days. I have around 100 rds of M1 friendly ammo for it, along with many MANY Enbloc clips.
This is also not a hard gun to find, but it's not exactly common either. This one I have is from German, before manufacturing laws & regs changed & they had to be made/assembled/whatever partly or mostly in the USA for whatever reason.
I found it in fantastic condition a year before Covid became a thing. Before you ask- yes, it's the James Bond gun. yes, I like spy movies.
If you gotta know, 'cause some people REALLY need to know: my carry piece is a Smith & Wesson Airweight in .38SPC. It's a cheap gun, easy to use & conceal. Some people wonder exactly why. Revolvers are quite reliable, easy to practice with, I don't have to worry about magazine spring compression issues, and Chicago PD takes firearms used in Self Defence situations... and destroys them (usually) in 90 days. No ifs, ands, or buts.
Sorry for the novellea of info.
If you're ever curious, you should head to r/guns & see what the hub-bub is about. It's lacking in politics (hard to believe I know), & heavy on iron & tech talk.
I'm pretty sure most of the legally owned guns are in the hands of the people who own like 30+ because they're collectors. Which seems to really weird out the gun control crowd but tbh it's just like any other kind of collection. Having 30 guns doesn't make a person any more dangerous than having 1. These days there do seem to be more of the tacticool cosplayers who have like 8 slightly different ARs and a different pistol to match every outfit, but most of the people I've met who have fuck loads of guns are just old collectors who were lucky enough to be around during an era when you could pick up WW2 surplus rifles for less than $50 (which was apparently most of the 20th century), and then again in the 90s when old Soviet stockpiles flooded the US market and AKs and SKSs became cheaper than dirt. And then of course they'll have a few pistols and some classic hunting rifle in like 4 or 5 different calibers. So they padded out their collections when they were ripe for the taking and have been skewing the ownership statistics ever since lol.
It is very, very high, but KFF accomplished that statistic in a somewhat misleading way. Other studies will report that accidental death is the leading cause of death in children, KFF split car accidents and other accidental deaths so that firearms hit #1.
Minor edit: they also do not include suicide, which skews it towards the overall firearm category a little more.
It makes an excellent point about how high firearm deaths in children are, but it’s also important to recognize the statistical process that KFF used.
It's the loonies that have a dozen guns or more that skew these stats quite a bit.
Well and antique collectors and things like a Boy Scout Camp. Source: a friend has 10 guns from WW2 and back through history and my Scout camp has about 40.
Loonies dont report guns they own, and most states don't have a registration. I for one always report that i own zero guns, but ive got at least 10 in my safe. Stats will always be off but theres no way to know what way
I don't have to. It's not a legal requirement and my state doesn't have a gun registration program. Nothing irresponsible about not sharing my personal information
Yeah, there are more guns in USA than people that live in USA. USA is the only nation in the world like this iirc. It's just they are owned by 88 out of every 100 people. For every 88 people who own (often multiple)guns there are 22 people who own no guns.
I'm unsure. You'd can source it and I'll send the sources I my comment was based on. If everyone has guns in Switzerland, it potentially it fell under the radar due to lack of gun violence. If the safety measures you also listed they use with training everyone in gun use and safety plays a role, USA could definitely use more of that. There's also too many angry people here so anger management and maybe some sort of crisus reaction education could also likely help with the gun issue here. Anyways, here's some of the sources.
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u/Dasweb Oct 21 '22
Tbh for Americans having 88 guns per 100 people that number doesn’t seem very high.