Has Gun Ownership in American Homes Really Decreased This Dramatically?

reply to post by Raist


I had a bud who had quite the arms room in his twenties. Unfortunately he passed in his early forties. Who knows who his widow sold those weapons too? She was probably trying to settle the estate tax at the time.

reply to post by TDawgRex


Sorry to hear about his early death.

A lot of guns around here not only get sold but traded as well. I know my dad did his fair share of trading and selling/buying guns in his prime. He hunted all the time also. He had guns for different critters. My first hunting involved a single shot Winchester 67a .22. Then I started shooting a side by side double barrel 410.

Raist

Originally posted by kerazeesicko
I believe and hope this is true. I am hopeful that people are growing up and out of their cave man mentalities.

I believe gun buying may be up but that is because it is the same old gun nuts buying these guns. They most likely buy and own multiple weapons giving the impression that there are a lot of Americans owning weapons when it might be only lke 1. something million who own like 20 or so guns each. Most likely even less...the gun nuts who believe that society would crumble if no one had access to guns...idiots..

Well you would like to think so.

First time gun owners amoung females is way up.

Originally posted by IkNOwSTuff
reply to post by TDawgRex

 

I totally agree polls are normally BS, Ive been involved with a company that conducted them and an internal phone survey revealed people BS about 80% of the time in anonymous surveys.

But I dont doubt what this one is saying, common sense and simple mathematics tells you that the percentage of American gun owners has gone down and will most likely continue to go down.

At the time of the revolutionary war it was close to 100% I imagine ever since the civil war it would have been steadily declining.

I dont understand why gun owners find this so scary or offensive

The data gathering prosses is beyound weak. The propaganda mechine is in full swing. The whole idea that gun owners are down while sales are up is just pure 1984 flibidy flab being used in an attempt to toss a rod in the momentum the anti gun folks are staggering from.

What I dont understand is why you would put yourself out and try to draw a question on what is certainly some very weak at best doublethink and newspeak.

You know what really burns me up is your opening question...as if zero in here never thought about the fact the most guns sold are sold to folks that already have guns. Like we should scratch our heads like an ape and say gee wally I never thought about that. Oh and "Halliburton"..... you dont say? From "Texas" no less.

That isn't so much [color=limegreen]facts as it is propaganda. But who needs facts anymore, just write something contrary to the facts and hope there is someone ignorant enough to believe it (and there are plenty) and share it with their equally - factually challenged friends. Thats how propaganda works.

From the link above...

The number of federally required background checks of prospective gun purchasers has nearly doubled in the past decade

And just to add, this bit here.

a time when violent crime has been in long decline in many places across the USA

i would like to address the argument that the federal government has no way of knowing how many guns are around.
i dont believe they know who owns what weapons but they very well should know about the right number of firearms simply due to having to claim the sales of these firearms for tax purposes and the fact that each firearm (modern ones anyway) have an identification number and these two things would make estimating the number of firearms to be fairly easy and accurate
now its impossible to know who owns how many of what type of firearm but i think its pretty safe to assume that a very large portion that own weapons own multiple weapons and that the majority of the population that is underage does not own a firearm....... so its pretty safe to assume that we are nowhere remotely near the 1:1 ratio that the numbers would seem to indicate and that it is very possible that the number of gun owners has decreased while the number of firearms has increased

reply to post by IkNOwSTuff


Oh so high and mighty.

Please, provide facts. Please provide anything to back your statements up, whether it be your statement of that I proclaimed to serve overseas, or figures showing private gun ownership is on the rise solely due to "gun nuts" hoarding and buying their 20th firearm.

No, my statement has never insinuated that your opinion is held to any high standard.
The NY times article is based on phone polling.
Your uninformed statements about gun ownership are just that, uninformed, unless you think being informed is what you as a foreigner gets from the media and ATS.

You don't live here, you aren't from here, you have no clue.

You have shown in the past that all you really care about is the debate, not the actual stance.
But, I welcome your continued efforts in telling Americans what WE should and shouldn't do in regards to OUR firearms and rights.

reply to post by macman



i tend to agree with most of what that poster has said and i am a citizen of the united states (and for the record i most certainly am not for a gun ban and against many forms of regulation)

now would you care to address the logical basis of his post rather than dismissing anything he has to say based entirely on the region in which he lives?

reply to post by sirhumperdink


Yes, his math skills are in working order.
Past that, what is the real world knowledge of day to day life in the States? None. What about yours?
How often do you converse with gun owners? People at a gun shop, local shooters, CCW instructors, firearm dealers, parts dealers, gun show patrons, people at gun ranges and neighbors?

What I see and hear in my state is all types of people are purchasing firearms.
New owners, repeats and collectors. Gun ownership as a whole is on the rise, as a whole.

reply to post by macman


and that is not a logical conclusion is it?
you are conversing with gun owners and hanging out at gun shops of course you are going to have those kinds of experience and see those types of things regardless of what the actual figures look like
it would seem to me that you are perhaps in position less capable of determining what the situation is really like than our "foreign" friend here
we have a real lack of information on the subject so its hard to know for sure but logic would dictate that the number of gun owners has been steadily decreasing for well over a hundreds years and will continue to do so in the future as firearms become less and less relevant and that your views on what the situation looks like are heavily skewed in one direction based on your personal experiences (which is influenced to an incredible degree by the types of people you choose to associate with..... which seem in your case to be people heavily enamored with gun culture)

reply to post by sirhumperdink


So firearm ownership is in decline????

What were the sales numbers again?

So, by actually being around people that are the ones purchasing firearms, and seeing first hand who the purchasers are, I am off in the perception?
You are living in an alternate universe.

By your logic I should hang around people that aren't purchasing firearms to see who is purchasing firearms?
Yeah, okay then. Sure sure.

reply to post by macman



no my point is that your experiences are going to be dominated by people owning and purchasing firearms if those are the type of people you are associating with and those experiences are not going to provide you with an accurate representation of what the population as whole is doing (only what that particular demographic is doing)

and no sales numbers are not an accurate representation of the rate of ownership and its silly that you dont seem to understand that
this is something that you would expect to see on a proficiency test in high school .......rates of ownership going up is going to mean an increase in sales but an increase in sales does not mean gun ownership is going up......understand?

Originally posted by sirhumperdink
rates of ownership going up is going to mean an increase in sales but an increase in sales does not mean gun ownership is going up......understand?

Hmmmm.....

When I was getting my CCW, I had a chance to talk to a few people getting their licenses. 10 of the folks I talked to were new owners, and Gun safety was a must. They decided to buy their firearms, and take the test. Period. WI just passed the right to carry a year ago, and I suspect half the class were "new" owners.

Originally posted by sonnny1

Originally posted by sirhumperdink
rates of ownership going up is going to mean an increase in sales but an increase in sales does not mean gun ownership is going up......understand?

Hmmmm.....

When I was getting my CCW, I had a chance to talk to a few people getting their licenses. 10 of the folks I talked to were new owners, and Gun safety was a must. They decided to buy their firearms, and take the test. Period. WI just passed the right to carry a year ago, and I suspect half the class were "new" owners.

and that makes sense
because if this is their first weapon and it is a pistol that they intend to carry around they need to get a ccw permit (and people purchasing for protection rather than sport are going to want concealed carry......and most of these people will provide a similar reason for purchasing that firearm)
so you are going to have relatively large numbers of people applying for ccw permits that are first time owners (there are always going to be new owners regardless of if the actual rates are increasing or not) its likely that you would have seen the same thing twenty years ago
make sense?

(tl;dr gun owners that are purchasing for protection are going to be likely to want a concealed carry permit and therefor get that permit as they become a gun owner..... experienced and avid gun owners are more likely to have taken the test while they were still first time owners)

This so called poll is just like the VA asking veterans if they own guns .

Most veteran now know not to answer that question from the VA as yes.

I believe the gun record system in the US has broken down and is no longer usable by the government i they will try to use other means or new registration laws to try to repair it.

I believe you will see new laws in some states and may be the whole US requiring that everyone re-register all guns they own even if they have been registered before.

This will be just before they start going door to door grabbing guns.

Everyone I know lost their guns went they went fishing. It's strange, but, it happens, you know?

reply to post by sonnny1

When I was getting my CCW, I had a chance to talk to a few people getting their licenses. 10 of the folks I talked to were new owners, and Gun safety was a must. They decided to buy their firearms, and take the test. Period. WI just passed the right to carry a year ago, and I suspect half the class were "new" owners.

In the past couple months when I visit my local range, I usually have a conversation with some of the employees. Whenever we brought up their classes, they always said they have been full since the end of 2012. Not just CHL classes, but basic handgun classes as well. Always a ton of new shooters in each class to.

I go to that range on Thursday nights, which is the same night they hold some of their classes. Before the end of 2012, I would see just a few people taking a class when I get there. After the end of 2012, the place is completely full. The parking lot is full, plus it takes awhile to get through the front door.

Didn't gun sales meet/exceed records? People just don't want there guns confiscated so they're not saying they have them. Good reason too keep quiet at that.

reply to post by macman

Oh so high and mighty.

Well I consider myself quite Humble but I accept your compliment

Please, provide facts. Please provide anything to back your statements up, whether it be your statement of that I proclaimed to serve overseas, or figures showing private gun ownership is on the rise solely due to "gun nuts" hoarding and buying their 20th firearm.

How about I provide this survey and the FACTS ive already stated which include
1) a bad economy with people having less disposable income
2) a rise in gun prices
3) people moving out of rural areas
4) and an alleged fact from you is a campaign of disinformation by TPTB to demonise guns
I would say its you who needs to provide the facts, so far your "evidence" that the survey is wrong seems to be based on the fact Im a foreigner (so are you by the way) and that people in gun shops say otherwise. Please provide proof this survey is wrong.

Your uninformed statements about gun ownership are just that, uninformed, unless you think being informed is what you as a foreigner gets from the media and ATS.

In this thread and on the topic of declining rates of gun ownership the 4 points listed above are the only arguments Ive used, Since most of your fellow Americans have agreed with me on every one of them Im either correct or Americans are just as uninformed as I am.

You don't live here, you aren't from here, you have no clue.

For this topic being a Yank or not is irrelevant, are the 4 points I made above in support of this survey most likely being correct true or not?

You have shown in the past that all you really care about is the debate, not the actual stance. But, I welcome your continued efforts in telling Americans what WE should and shouldn't do in regards to OUR firearms and rights.

Now whos telling lies!!!!

Can you please highlight one instance in this thread where I told anyone what to do or even made a hint of a suggestion of my opinion on firearms or rights?
I stuck to the topic perhaps you should to instead of worrying about where I was born or reside, its not in any way relevant to the topic or discussion.

Forget about me, can you dispute the 4 facts I highlighted to support the validity of the survey?
Other than being an American and talking to people in Gun shops do you have any proof or factual evidence to support your stance that you believe gun ownership rates are in fact on the rise?

reading the actual question i could technically answer no even if i did

“Do you happen to have in your home (IF HOUSE: or garage) any guns or revolvers?” The Gallup version is a bit more expansive, also asking if guns are present inside one’s vehicle. It reads, “Do you have a gun in your home? (If no: Do you have a gun anywhere else on your property, such as in your garage, barn, shed, or in your car or truck?).

quite simply have the weapons on you and fill out the form somewhere other than your own property so for example at a friends house and job done as it asks if you keep guns on your property, its a poorly worded question to gauge actual gun ownership