Americans own nearly half the privately owned guns worldwide

[FoghornLeghorn]

http://www.nationaljournal.com...ns-on-earth-20130716

Says we've gone from 200 million privately owned guns in 1994 to 300 million today. Even though the article is a hit piece on POG's, it shows our numbers are too big for DC to ignore.

[madmo44mag]

Since the article was written I have bought two more guns.
So much for the 300 million total.
I will also venture to guess I'm not the only one!

[Tom Servo]

The article is mostly a portal for Bennett's essay. Bennett's taken his share of money from the Joyce Foundation, so I know where this is going.

Interestingly enough, he makes this admission about the families of Sandy Hook victims:

Perhaps what is most remarkable about their decision is that they were committing themselves to the passage of gun safety laws that had no actual bearing on the crime that had torn apart their own lives. (...) The families knew that legislation regulating the sales of weapons at gun shows or over the Internet would have done nothing to save their children.

He claims that they're acting out of altruistic "public-spirited thinking," and lauds that as the same mindset that led to the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security after 9/11.

Despite pushing for more controls on firearms dealers, he admits:

First, in 90 percent of gun crimes, the firearm has changed hands at least once since the original sale, meaning that someone other than the first dealer provided the gun to the criminal.

Oh, and also the NRA and their supporters are heartless bullies who just won't get with the program.

[chiefr]

Is that all, only 1/2?
We can do much better than that. Going to look for something on Gun BRoker right now.

[Skans]

There is nothing more American than owning guns! I try to be a good patriot at least twice a year.

[Miss Stana]

I say thumbs up to all the real American gun owners, and lets up that number even more. Armed Citizens make bad victoms!

[gc70]

They cannot get the numbers correct, but still manage to shortchange gun owners in the process.

An increase of 100 millions guns since 1994, indeed. The FBI's NICS summary report shows 118 million individual firearms transaction checks since 1998, without counting 42 million more checks for permits.

[Armorer-at-Law]

Glass half-full/half-empty. We don't have too many guns, the rest of the would has too few (in private hands).

[OPC]

Weren't the NYT recently trying to convince us to surrender rights because gun ownerhip in the US was down?

[Boomer58cal]

That number doesn't count the guns people have that are family heirlooms. Most of my guns are older than I am. I'd bet the real number is much higher.

That number also does not count my cannons or muzzleloaders.


Boomer

[carguychris]

That number doesn't count the guns people have that are family heirlooms. Most of my guns are older than I am. I'd bet the real number is much higher.

I have to point out, however, that this factor is likely even more pronounced in countries with restrictive gun laws but a strong tradition of law and order, e.g. Canada, Australia, and most of Western Europe.

When that heirloom is unregistered or outright illegal to possess, some people squirrel it away rather than coming clean and risking arrest. Regarding Europe in particular, it's useful to remember that relatively few people in the USA had soldiers abandon small arms on their property during WWII.

Fact is, we don't really know how many guns people have, anywhere.

[Boomer58cal]

I'd prefer to keep it that way

Boomer

[Crankylove]

300 million................it's a good start, but I'm doin all I can to raise that number

[Frankv64]

I'm doing my part

[Dashunde]

Hahaha... excellent.
I pity any country foolish enough to try to invade us... ever.

it's useful to remember that relatively few people in the USA had soldiers abandon small arms on their property during WWII.

Fact is, we don't really know how many guns people have, anywhere.

Thats interesting... there may actually be more fully auto machine guns in the hands of Western European civilians than we have here.

[Tom Servo]

Thats interesting... there may actually be more fully auto machine guns in the hands of Western European civilians than we have here.

An acquaintance of mine once built houses in Spain. On several occasions, they found guns in the baseboards and walls of houses being demolished or renovated. He once found a Mauser in the branches of a tall tree while clearing property.

[Dashunde]

That tree might have been just a bush when the Mauser fell in it?

[bumnote]

I seriously doubt US citizens even privately own 25% of guns worldwide. Sure seem to be lots of real assault weapons in the hands of folks in places like Chechnya, Africa, Syria and other countries every time there's an uprising.

[vito]

I don't have any confidence in numbers of anything around the world. How can they have a clue as to the number of AK's in Africa, the Middle East and even parts of Europe? It's not as if folks will step forward and say "Count my gun". And what difference does it make except to the people who would say we have too many guns in the U.S. even if we had only 25% of the total, or even less. When well done studies show that more guns mean less crime, the anti's just blithely ignore the studies and stick to their emotional commitment to wanting to ban firearms.

[Rifleman1776]

Good.
Let's keep it that way or increase the percentage.
Japan did not invade our mainland because they knew "there is a rifleman behind every blade of grass".

[Tom Servo]

Actually, there's no evidence that Yamamoto ever made the "blade of grass" comment.

[Closing The Gap]

Aww now WWII is ruined for me too. Just like the infamous "Luke, I am your father" Star Wars misquote.

[4V50 Gary]

He once found a Mauser in the branches of a tall tree while clearing property.

Mausers do grow on trees. If I prune the tree, will it grow a C-96 Mauser?

I bet if we look at population size and the # of guns, places like Warziristan would beat us. There's that street that is gunmaker's lane with men and boys making things with simple hand tools. But for world tension, I'd love to visit it and sit there and watch.

[zxcvbob]

Americans own nearly half the privately owned guns worldwide

God bless America!

[deepcreek]

I don't have any confidence in numbers of anything around the world. How can they have a clue as to the number of AK's in Africa, the Middle East and even parts of Europe? It's not as if folks will step forward and say "Count my gun".

+1 millions of guns worldwide get produced without registration/recorded records.

All the truck loads of AKs being sent to "conflict" areas from ???? secret supporters