Declining Gun ownership in the US?

I've ran into this article today about Debunking The "Declining Gun Ownership in America" and it seems to support what I've been seeing on the ground where I live (I've metion this in a couple of forum just a few days ago). From where I am (Somewhere in the Mid-Atlantic) I can see a growing interests in guns. Where I use to only see mostly white males at the local outdoor shooting range, now I actually see families of minorities spending a day. In gun shops I frequent I also see many new buyers every time I'm there window shopping . Even a few high schools now have rifle teams ... which probably was scraped for decades before.

I'm just wondering what you guys think, is this trend on the ground the same where you live? (More people own firearms and lying on surveys) Or maybe gun ownership is on a decline and the MSMs are right.

a reply to: joemoe

Gun sales go up after every shooting and we have a lot of them, who ever said it was declining?

a reply to: Sremmos80

Well some people suggest a declining population of insecure white males just keep buying more.

Probably because all the illegal guns are not registered therefore lowering the count.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Well the staunch second supporters don't register their guns either.

Are they illegal too?

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: Bluntone22

Well the staunch second supporters don't register their guns either.

Are they illegal too?

Only if they bought the gun from a ffl dealer. Otherwise they don't need to register anything.
There is no way to find out who owns a gun other than asking the people, then you are assuming they are answering the question truthfully.

a reply to: Sremmos80

Well to keep on topic. NIC checks are at a record for sure. Just wondering what everyone is seeing around them in their area ... ranges, gun shops, the likes. I definitely see an uptick in minorities and women here, which is great. It definitely seem more diverse now.

Not at my house

The Injury Prevention Journal, Pew Research, and other sources for this alleged “decline” are all based on surveys of what people will tell them.

There's a nearly 100% probability that if someone calls me with survey questions, I'm going to tell them exactly the opposite of the truth on the survey. That's if it is firearms, vehicles, eating habits, politics, anything. I haven't often been surveyed, but the handfull of times I've responded to the calls, I have created an imaginary individual who is unemployed, homeless, lacks running water, hasn't see any health care professional in over a decade, drinks heavily and daily, votes Democrat straight ticket, owns no firearms, drives an electric car, only uses public transportation, has no children, vegan, eats fast food for every meal, doesn't own a TV, has never owned or used a computer of the internet, and sets my thermostat to 45 degrees all winter.

There is no science behind polling and surveys... and if there is/was, I've made it a life goal to eviscerate that science by encouraging outliers.

a reply to: joemoe


Newsweek

The number of American households that own one or more guns has again reached its lowest point, according to data from a survey released March 3.

Gun ownership is now back at the low point it reached in 2010: Only 32 percent of Americans own a firearm or live with someone who does, compared with about half the population in the late 1970s and early 1980s, according to the 2014 General Social Survey (GSS). The survey is a project of independent research organization NORC at the University of Chicago, with principal funding from the National Science Foundation.

The poll also found that 22 percent of Americans personally own a firearm, down from a high of 31 percent in 1985. The percentage of men who own a firearm is down from 50 percent in 1980 to 35 percent in 2014, while the number of women who own a gun has remained relatively steady since 1980, coming in at 12 percent in 2014.

Not the best source, but it a start.

a reply to: joemoe


I picked up a new gun last week and had to wait an hour to get what I wanted ordered. Then I spent an hour waiting my turn and then filling out the paperwork for registration.
Let's just say the place was busy.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: joemoe


I picked up a new gun last week and had to wait an hour to get what I wanted ordered. Then I spent an hour waiting my turn and then filling out the paperwork for registration.
Let's just say the place was busy.

That have been my experience also. A few time I had wait that long because the salespeople were too busy. That why i ask this question here. From what I see it's not a decline. But it seems someone wants us to think that it is. disinfo?

a reply to: olbe66

Yea I'm seeing similar articles just seems like it is the opposite around here.

a reply to: joemoe

Wishful thinking from the left?
Propoganda?
Hard to say, maybe just bad information.

a reply to: olbe66

Well, considering the climate over the last few years, if someone calls to ask if my household has a firearm I will say no.

If a doctor asks anyone in the family if there is a firearm in the house, we will say no.

If any of the kids are asked in school if there is a firearm in the house, they will say no.

Hard to get accurate poll results when many / most people are not going to give you correct data.

My bet, if you called and asked 100 concealed carry permit holders if they have a firearm in the house, a large % will say no.

There is absolutely no real way to know just how many American households have guns.

Considering the anti gun sentiment in this country that is more liken to propaganda of Nazi Germany.

It would not be wise to admit to anything.

Just go with the FACT.

Americans have lots of guns, and immediate access to them.

a reply to: infolurker

It all depends also on how you answer the question

so a CCW person's in their garden doing some weeding with their only gun by their side and their mobile rings and they ask "do you have any firearms in your house?" the correct answer is no as the gun is outside the house, also if they ask "do you own any firearms?" the answer could be no as your husband/wife/whatever brought it and has just lent it to you till you get your own in about 2066 so you don't own it...its amazing how you can tell what most people would see as a lie as a fact or just using basic political speak

a reply to: joemoe

I live in rural PA but work in Baltimore. Everyone around here hunts and has several guns. I only know a few folks in Md. who have any guns.

a reply to: infolurker

I agree. I have several guns that were handed down to me through the family that were purchased from 1900-1950. No way those are on anyone's books. Most of them were bought through catalog sales because my family lived far from the "big city."

a reply to: olbe66

And growing fast. 10 million a year.


dailycaller.com...

While no one knows exactly, our most reliable estimates have put the numbers of firearms in the hands of United States civilians at 300 – 310 million, but I am convinced that number is no longer anywhere close to accurate. I suspect the true numbers are a lot higher.

There were over 47 million guns imported, manufactured, and sold between 2008 and 2012. Add another 15 million for 2013—a conservative guess based on what we know—and we’re well over 60 million new guns in the hands of gun owners since 2008. That means we have averaged over ten million new guns sold per year for the last six years alone. Fully one-third of new guns in recent years have been imported into the United States from other countries.