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NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS
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Myths About Gun Control

Americans and Guns
Americans own more firearms than motor vehicles. A conservative estimate of the number is more than 200 million, including more than 65 million handguns.

  • The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) estimates that in 1991 Americans owned 201.8 million firearms - 66.7 million handguns, 72.7 million rifles and 62.4 million shotguns.
  • That is eight firearms for every 10 Americans, one per adult (15 years and older) or 2.1 per household -- the highest rate of private ownership of firearms in the world.
  • Surveys show that half of U.S. households own at least one firearm.
  • In 1991 alone, California gun dealers sold almost half a million guns.
  • U.S. manufacturers produced 4.6 billion cartridges in 1987, or 23 cartridges per civilian firearm.
Males are more likely to own guns than females (49 percent of respondents vs. 13 percent), as are whites than blacks (29 percent vs. 19 percent), middle-aged than young or old (34 percent vs. 27 percent vs. 29 percent), married than single (33 percent vs. 24 percent), middle- and upper-income than lower-income (34 percent vs. 25 percent) and rural than urban (43 percent vs. 23 percent) individuals. There is very little correlation between years of education and gun ownership.

 The rate of increase in gun ownership per person apparently turned upward around 1963, coincident with sharp increases in crime. Handguns have enjoyed the most rapid rise in popularity, and these are the weapons favored for both self-defense and crime.

 As already noted, about 88 percent of violent crimes reported to police are committed without the use of firearms. Many times, other weapons " knives, clubs, brass knuckles, a board with a nail in it, whatever is available " are used. Among drug dealers, baseball bats reportedly have become a favorite weapon.

 Criminal psychologist Stanton Samenow offers a useful perspective on the criminal use of guns and other weapons: A shakedown of virtually any correctional facility will yield a variety of contraband items, especially homemade weapons. . . . In prison industries, metal or woodworking shops, and during other activities, inmates are in regular contact with sharp, heavy and breakable objects that they can turn into weapons. Even a mop handle makes a good club. . . . Criminals are criminals, no matter where they are. . . . Virtually any convenient object can be used as a weapon. A stick becomes a club, a letter opener becomes a knife. A stone can hit a windshield with the impact of a bullet when it is dropped from a bridge high overhead.

 Sources: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Report to the Nation on Crime and Justice, March 1988, pp. 39-53; and James D. Wright, "Guns and Crime," in Joseph F. Sheley, ed., Criminology: A Contemporary Handbook (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1991).
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