“How Many Americans Own Guns?”

UConn asks “how many Americans own a gun.”

That depends a bit on how you look at it. The narrowest definition of a gun owner is a person who has put money on the counter, fulfilled all legal requirements and taken a gun home. The broadest definition is someone who lives in a home with a gun. The most direct way of determining either number is to call up two thousand or so homes and ask.

2011 Percentage of Homes With Guns by Region, Gallup

Percentage of Homes With Guns by Region, Gallup

Gallup has been doing something like that, with much the same result seen in the graphic on the left. Unfortunately, there is a problem with that. Gun “control,” actually gun confiscation, drives have so many gun owners frightened to the point they will deny they own a gun. So other than the fact that a lot of Americans own a gun, polls like the Gallup poll are not very informative. (click on the graphic for a clearer view)

Since the main road is blocked, let’s take a detour and see what the scenic route will turn up. Starting with the number of occupied dwellings.

The National Association of Homebuilders says there are 105,480,101 currently occupied dwellings in the United States. The 2010 Census found 111,800,000. Given the number of foreclosures and abandonment’s, the NAH may be correct – but for appearances sake it will probably be better to use the official Census number.

Next, a private telephone poll that contacted 1,200 individuals found 58% of respondents indicated a gun in the home. This is slightly higher than the highest percentage from the Gallup poll, 54%, but the Gallup poll numbers are pulled down by fear engendered by active gun control campaigns in the Northeast and West.

A poll of individuals known to be gun owners contacted 758 individuals and found a 29% denial rate. When all the variables, including the geographic ones, are factored in, and with a three percent margin of error, 77.5 percent of American homes have at least one gun.

So we come back to the number of occupied dwellings. Using the Census number of 111,800,000 there are at least 86,650,000 Americans who own a gun.

On the other hand, if we allow that everyone who lives in a home with a gun has some ownership claim, the census says that each occupied dwelling in the United States houses 2.72 people. Which totals 235,675,000 Americans have some claim to gun ownership.

My, we have a lot of company! I hope to see all of you at the polls in 2014 and 2016.

Continue reading here: What Would Happen If All Guns Were Confiscated?

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Readers' Questions

  • aila
    How many americans own firearms?
    8 months ago
  • The exact number of Americans who own firearms is unclear as there is no centralized firearms ownership database in the United States. However, According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2017, it was estimated that around 30% of American adults (or roughly 73 million people) owned a firearm. It is important to note that firearm ownership rates can vary significantly by region, demographics, and other factors.
    • HANA
      How many americans own guns?
      1 year ago
    • It is estimated that there are over 400 million guns in civilian hands in the United States, owned by an estimated 100 million people.
      • wilimar
        How many households own guns?
        1 year ago
      • There is no definitive answer to this question since estimates vary widely. According to surveys conducted by the National Institute of Justice and the Pew Research Center, it’s estimated that anywhere between 25% and 40% of households in the U.S. own guns.