National Gun Country...Where are they most popular

[DB is Here]

GUN COUNTRY: Where in the U.S. Are Guns Most Popular? | Security.org

Despite the fact that most Americans don’t personally own guns, access to firearms remains such a politically divisive issue that no new, major federal gun control legislation has been enacted for the past 25 years. Meanwhile, thousands of people have died in mass shootings, and thousands more...

www.security.org

Interesting info...

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[MannyGlocks]

My neighborhood.

All are armed to the teeth.

We like it that way.

Hell, I'm just about ready to go outside and chainsaw up some oak limbs while wearing a handgun with a fully loaded spare magazine.

 

[notazombie]

Seems like something that would be pretty tough to track. You know, when you consider the places where free citizens trade freely and craftsmen roll their own. Well, huh. Idaho is barely a blip on that study's radar. Fine by me.
First rule of gun club...

 

[Hueco]

Fewer than 1 in 3 huh...yet the vast majority of people disagree with getting rid of 2A.

I'd like to see a good survey on non gun owners. Just two questions: if the government crossed the line into your version of tyranny, would you buy a gun? Followed by: what's the line for you?

My hypothesis is that because guns are available just about anywhere, that the thought of owning one doesn't cross a person's mind until after some tragedy has befallen them, at which point they know they can get a gun. Sort of like all the people that don't keep a stocked pantry because the store always has food. (Even though we all know who wins when a disaster strikes)

 

[MannyGlocks]

Hueco,

A Conservative is a liberal that's been mugged.

Yes, it's and old cliche, but nevertheless true.

Makes 'believers' out of em it does...

 

[Member 3687]

Fewer than 1 in 3 Americans report personally owning a gun.

To me this means they really do not know because many of us do not answer polls or fill out stat-sheets when asked. It is no bodies business what I have unless I make it that way and I do not report owing any guns.

So in reality it could be 1 in 2 or 1 in 1.5 but if I do not tell and you do not tell they guess using the info they have but even at 1 in 3 that's still 1/3 rd of the population or around 105 million folks armed that they know of.

Just like the last election where Trump was to loose and Hillary to win by a land slide according to polls, well that did not happen and I feel these numbers are low as well but that's just my opinion.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

I might ask or add :
Why are guns popular and or owned...?
It seems to me that there has been a shift in the reasons for gun ownership.
When I was younger , it could be boiled down to :
Shooting ( just for fun , no real reason or disciplines )...
Hunting...
Collecting...
Family guns...
'Cause we can , you know the 2nd Amendment...

Sure we knew of others that shot in competition or were into re-working old military guns ...
As always there isn't enough space to truly say why someone owns guns.

But....

Lately I have seen more emphasis on self defense and protection from various threats ....and less of the
shooting just as a fun past time.
Granted with all the bans , restrictions and regulations that just keep on coming...I can see why the guns that are on those lists are among the first to be bought / owned.
With that said , I have no doubt that any gun , no matter what type , how old , how it operates , etc...will be on someone's :
"You can't own this" list.

Its just that after reading articles like the one in the OP...
I just get to feeling glum...much of what is in the OP , I do not agree with or at the least , view with suspicion...and I rarely see a article promoting the idea of shooting just for fun....no drills , no competition , no real training....just shooting , safely , for fun...
I understand that some folks find competition , drills and the like fun...which indeed , they can be.

I do wonder though if the way in which many guns are advertised , marketed and shown in use , has done gun ownership a disservice or at least given gun owners a high hurtle to cross.
Andy

 

[whiskeybill]

Never heard of "Gun Country". No indication of who authored this article. Sure, they show a lot of statistics, but anything that is written with no credit for who or where this came from falls under the "suspicious" category, at least for me.

 

[gmerkt]

My neighborhood. All are armed to the teeth.

I've read that in rural south Texas, that's become a near necessity due to violence and trespass from illegal immigration. But land owners have to be careful. Lawyers have gotten wise to this, they have latched on to "wrongful death."

My hypothesis is that because guns are available just about anywhere, that the thought of owning one doesn't cross a person's mind until after some tragedy has befallen them, at which point they know they can get a gun.

My sister lives in so. Calif. The last major LA riot, 1990-something, she was making noise about getting a gun. When the riot was over, she quickly forgot about the idea. So many people drop their guard when danger recedes.

 

[Stomper]

My neighborhood.

All are armed to the teeth.

We like it that way.

Hell, I'm just about ready to go outside and chainsaw up some oak limbs while wearing a handgun with a fully loaded spare magazine.

Pppphhhppttttt...... that's nothing, I built a bunch of 20' long raised flower beds for my wife yesterday and had two loaded firearms on me the entire time.

 

[DB is Here]

Pppphhhppttttt...... that's nothing, I built a bunch 20' long raised flower beds for my wife yesterday and had two loaded firearms on me the entire time.

"Merica

 

[Idaho44]

The "methodology" stated in the article appears to be a bit flawed. While every purchase through an FFL has to fill in the form. Are those forms 'calculated' by the FBI or is it just the 'call in' for a BG check? And how many guns were in existence BEFORE the required BG check and continue to circulate in the gun community?

 

[Member 3687]

I might ask or add :
Why are guns popular and or owned...?
It seems to me that there has been a shift in the reasons for gun ownership.
When I was younger , it could be boiled down to :
Shooting ( just for fun , no real reason or disciplines )...
Hunting...
Collecting...
Family guns...
'Cause we can , you know the 2nd Amendment...

Sure we knew of others that shot in competition or were into re-working old military guns ...
As always there isn't enough space to truly say why someone owns guns.

But....

Lately I have seen more emphasis on self defense and protection from various threats ....and less of the
shooting just as a fun past time.
Granted with all the bans , restrictions and regulations that just keep on coming...I can see why the guns that are on those lists are among the first to be bought / owned.
With that said , I have no doubt that any gun , no matter what type , how old , how it operates , etc...will be on someone's :
"You can't own this" list.

Its just that after reading articles like the one in the OP...
I just get to feeling glum...much of what is in the OP , I do not agree with or at the least , view with suspicion...and I rarely see a article promoting the idea of shooting just for fun....no drills , no competition , no real training....just shooting , safely , for fun...
I understand that some folks find competition , drills and the like fun...which indeed , they can be.

I do wonder though if the way in which many guns are advertised , marketed and shown in use , has done gun ownership a disservice or at least given gun owners a high hurtle to cross.
Andy

Andy

I agree there was a time I did not worry about my firearms being used for self deference or protecting my home and family but that was a time I left my keys in my car all the time, my front door unlocked, I did not have a security system in my home, my guns were not stored in a safe and I trusted most of my neighbors to help protect my belongings rather than stealing them..

Times have changed as the world has gotten more populated. There is a country about 3200 miles south of me that the average expectant life of a police chief is 6 months and many small town mayors is less than 60 days unless they were paid for from the start. Where mass graves are discovered monthly and hanging gutted bodies are found hanging from bridges more often than not and these drug gangs are moving north and have been busted in both north Idaho and Washington State.

We also now have a anti gun political party saying that I should wait for the police to protect me yet the Supreme Court has stated that the police do not have to protect me if it puts them in harm's way and not just once but 3 cases.

I feel that even back in my younger days of firearms the thought of protection was there but not the key focus as we did not feel threatened about losing our rights to own them but not anymore.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

I feel that even back in my younger days of firearms the thought of protection was there but not the key focus as we did not feel threatened about losing our rights to own them but not anymore.

The last sentence of your post sums up my feelings...And is one of the points of what I was trying to say.
I understand the "why" of the "key focus"..I even mention some of that in my post which you quoted.
I know that tines have changed...
I also know that my feelings towards guns and gun ownership are in the minority....

I just wish that more was:
Written on...
Talked about...
Shown on TV...
Advertised / marketed.....
That showcased the more fun and less serious side of gun ownership.
Andy
Edit to add...
Not trying to sound argumentative here...sorry if I came across that way...
Just not feeling to much into the mainstream reasons given in the article ...and when you are lost in the world of something that care a lot for...it makes it difficult to express just what you are thinking...

 

[Wombat of Doom]

I am mostly a recreational shooter, though I have used firearms to stay on the right side of the dirt (and to assure that another did. It is why I am the one buying rather silly firearms at times just because. Lets be honest, I don't want a blunderbuss for home defense. Sure, it probably would do the trick in a pinch, but I want to shoot a big old blunderbuss for fun. I also like pistol caliber carbines a lot. They are fun. I don't own a suppressed single shot .28special/.357 Magnum rifle for home defense either.

 

[bbbass]

I just wish that more was:
Written on...
Talked about...
Shown on TV...
Advertised / marketed.....
That showcased the more fun and less serious side of gun ownership.
Andy

We need to bring back The American Sportsman show!!!

 

[bbbass]

"Those numbers plummet when you look at people other than white men"

It's that white privilege at work/play again. And feeds into the trope that white males are the gun violence problem. Maybe they should go to Chicago, Detroit, etc and see what the demographic for ALL gun ownership is in those places, not just those that are listed on BGC.

 

[Slobray]

The "methodology" stated in the article appears to be a bit flawed. While every purchase through an FFL has to fill in the form. Are those forms 'calculated' by the FBI or is it just the 'call in' for a BG check? And how many guns were in existence BEFORE the required BG check and continue to circulate in the gun community?

I wouldn't say "a bit flawed", as most would think that flawed information was unintentional. I would have to say they are majorly biased after reading this gem:

it's estimated that about 13% of those who have bought a gun did so through friends or online.

Perpetuating the lie about being able to buy a gun online, no questions asked, is intentional, which throws pretty much their whole "study"into question.



Ray

 

[nammac]

Fewer than 1 in 3 Americans report personally owning a gun.

To me this means they really do not know because many of us do not answer polls or fill out stat-sheets when asked. It is no bodies business what I have unless I make it that way and I do not report owing any guns.

So in reality it could be 1 in 2 or 1 in 1.5 but if I do not tell and you do not tell they guess using the info they have but even at 1 in 3 that's still 1/3 rd of the population or around 105 million folks armed that they know of.

Just like the last election where Trump was to loose and Hillary to win by a land slide according to polls, well that did not happen and I feel these numbers are low as well but that's just my opinion.

^^^This...

Whenever I get one of those calls, I typically just hang up, on the rare occasion I'm willing to answer questions, I give no information that would be usable against me. So essentially filling them up with BS.

 

[Alexx1401]

GUN COUNTRY: Where in the U.S. Are Guns Most Popular? | Security.org

Despite the fact that most Americans don’t personally own guns, access to firearms remains such a politically divisive issue that no new, major federal gun control legislation has been enacted for the past 25 years. Meanwhile, thousands of people have died in mass shootings, and thousands more...

www.security.org

Interesting info...

As soon as I got to this line:

There's also the matter of gun purchases made from sources other than licensed retailers; it's estimated that about 13% of those who have bought a gun did so through friends or online.
That was it for me. I would like the author to try to buy a gun online, then write a little story of just how that went.