3 ms·
Since we're using anecdotes - I know and go shooting with a lot of people, and I don't know a single person who only owns 1 gun, it is either 0 or 2 or more (I
by suresk 14y ago
Since we're using anecdotes - I know and go shooting with a lot of people, and I don't know a single person who only owns 1 gun, it is either 0 or 2 or more (I personally own 3).
The reason is that different guns have different uses. If someone is concerned about personal protection, they'll have a handgun. A big rifle is useful for hunting or just messing around, but the ammo might be expensive (ammo for my M1 Garand is over $1.25 per round!) so someone might have something like a .22 rifle (ammo has historically been less than 10 cents per round) that can be used inexpensively for fun. If you hunt birds a lot and/or like to shoot clay pigeons, you'll also have a shotgun.
3.3 seems pretty reasonable to me.
- Turing_Machine 14y agoMost gun owners live in urban areas (which makes them even less likely to answer telephone polls honestly, particularly if there are local restrictions) and don't "go shooting" or hunt. If you hang around with woodworkers, the number of hammers owned is going to be more than one. If you're talking about random people, it's going to be much lower.
- suresk 14y agoI think it is important to distinguish between urban and suburban areas, in which case suburban areas actually have the most gun owners (since they contain roughly half the population, and suburban households are more likely to own a gun than urban households) and this is where I'm drawing my personal experiences from. Due to fewer restrictions and more places to shoot, suburban areas are easier places to own one or more guns. At any rate - 3.3 still seems reasonable to me. Although I'm not incredibly confident about it, your anecdotes and assumptions aren't enough to convince me that it is substantially higher than the actual rate.