State by State Gun Ownership by Resident

[Darrell KSR]

Pretty interesting. And it looks pretty consistent from state to state, which surprised me a little (except for a couple of notable exceptions).

http://yellowhammernews.com/faithandculture/perspective-alabamians-own-more-guns-than-the-entire-nation-of-spain/?utm_campaign=559af5af73526a3223021a54&utm_source=boomtrain&utm_medium=email&bt_alias=eyJ1c2VySWQiOiIyM2UxYzU5ZC0wMWUxLTRiYjAtO DgyNi0yNWRlZDg1MjQ1Y2QifQ%3D%3D

[dan_bgblue]

I think I am much more surprised by the numbers listed for the countries not named USA.

[CitizenBBN]

Not sure we can put much stock in it, it seems all they did was take the total number of guns owned in the US and created a ratio then applied it to each state total. So it's not really a state to state estimate, just 88% of the population of each state and then ranked.

The country comparison is interesting, and probably more accurate.

A somewhat better comparison between states is the FBI data on NICS checks run. It measures guns purchased, but only sort of. For example Kentucky uses NICS to run periodic background checks on all CCDW holders, so our numbers are inflated, as are other states that similarly use NICS to check CCDW holders. But its still better than nothing, and it does partially cancel out that error b/c purchases by CCDW holders in most states means there is no background check at all, so states with higher CCDW holders probably under report total purchases but may have extra NICS checks to run against CCDW holders.

Here's the 2015 data so far:

https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/reports/nics_firearm_checks_-_month_year_by_state.pdf

here's a list from 2012, that despite the above mentioned issues, shows a list that would be more predicted by most of us:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/21/states-with-the-most-guns-in-2012.html

Kentucky will always be #1 due to the CCDW checks, but that list is a per capita ratio that shows intensity. in gross numbers Florida and Texas are much father up the list. the list total list I saw had Kentucky #1, but Florida an Texas in the top 5. Alabama was way up the list too, as was most of the south.

Here's one that tries to guess percentage of gun ownership by state based on a survey. I can guarantee it's low b/c many gun owners would never admit to being a gun owner in a survey: http://www.guns.com/2015/07/07/where-does-your-state-rank-in-gun-ownership/

I can't find the list I once had that ranked the NICS by state.

Anyway, it's an interesting discussion, in large part b/c we really don't know and it's kinda the point that we not know.

[Darrell KSR]

Not sure we can put much stock in it, it seems all they did was take the total number of guns owned in the US and created a ratio then applied it to each state total. So it's not really a state to state estimate, just 88% of the population of each state and then ranked.



I didn't pay attention. That's plumb lazy reporting. I thought it seemed coincidental that about 90% of the residents of every state owned a gun. Geez.

[CitizenBBN]

I didn't pay attention. That's plumb lazy reporting. I thought it seemed coincidental that about 90% of the residents of every state owned a gun. Geez.

I knew you just didn't see it, you'd have rejected it out of hand if you had.

It is still interesting to me though, as the original study's goals was a country by country comparison and that it is interesting. It was this reporter/media source taking that and just doing a ratio on each state that was the lazy step.

The good news is there really isn't a way to know for sure what state has how many guns. That's just as it should be in the broadest sense, just a guess.

I do think it's safe to say though that a state like Kentucky or Alabama has more guns than entire nations like spain or whoever, based on a total gut thumbnail of the state and this other report. It's a simple truth that a big reason any theoretical invasion of the US would fail is that we have the largest non-standing militia in human history, a good 40 or 50 million armed Americans most of whom would be more than happy to shoot the invading enemy. Would make the British march to Lexington and Concord look like a hand holding stroll.

[suncat05]

The numbers quoted for the Philippines is probably too low too. Everybody I know there has multiple guns, and access to more readily.

[Doc]

It doesn't really state but I'll assume that is guns and not gun owners, meaning if there are 100 individuals and 50 of those people each own 2 guns it would show 100 people and 100 guns. not 100 people and 50 of which are gun owners. To me the second number is a more important number.

[jazyd]

I would be willing to bet in Miss it is more than one per person on ave based on those I know :) I have one friend who has 15 Browning O/U Citori's, 23 Remington 700BDL', 15 Smith and Wesson Pistols, a closet full of rifles, 10 custom made rifles, I don't know how many shotguns. a small army. makes my 14 guns look small. :)