Question about who buys guns

[tigris115]

I was wondering; is there a survey on the kind of people who buy guns

Specifically, I'm talking about how many guns the buyer already owns

I heard during 2020, most of the guns and ammo were being bought by totally new gun owners.

So I was wondering if there were any statistics to show how this number fluxuates

 

[BourbonTrail]

May not be the specific statistic you are looking for:

1. The demographics of gun ownership

Understanding gun ownership in America is not as simple as knowing who does and does not own a gun. Some Americans who don’t personally own guns live with

www.pewresearch.org

Gun ownership in the U.S. 1972-2023 | Statista

The share of American households owning at least one firearm has remained relatively steady since 1972, hovering between 37 percent and 47 percent.

www.statista.com

How Many Guns are in the US? [2024]

After fighting for their independence, the founding fathers enshrined Americans’ right to firearms in the Second Amendment.

americangunfacts.com

 

[sierraone]

I can somewhat answer your question. With my local gun shop, its true that the majority of the large number of gun buyers that started when Covid hit, were in fact new first time gun owners. Most of the purchases were handguns. The second largest number were AR 15, AK 47 and other military style weapons. As time has passed, during the past year military clones of sub guns have become popular (such as semi auto versions of HK MP 5s).

About 5 or 6 years ago, I did some unofficial research on the number of hunters in the U.S. At that time I found that there were some 16,000,000 + hunting licenses sold in the U.S. The total number was going down at the time. But the number of shooters in the U.S. were over 80,000,000. They owned guns and shot guns regularly....but didn't hunt. We know that gun ownership has grown substantially since the start of the pandemic but I don't know if the number of hunters had grown.

 

[CBeck]

The number I’ve been hearing most is 7 million new gun owners in the US last year.….which is of course, a large part of the ammo shortage. If every one of them purchase 2 boxes of 20, that’s 280,000,000 additional rounds of ammo and truthfully it’s likely way more than that.

 

[rinehart0050]

If I had to guess, every gun buyer is buying their first gun. Definitely don't have any additional guns at home.

I know from personal experience that I only had one gun and that one gun was sadly lost in a boating accident.

Now I have no guns.

 

[LivingTheDream]

If I had to guess, every gun buyer is buying their first gun. Definitely don't have any additional guns at home.

I know from personal experience that I only had one gun and that one gun was sadly lost in a boating accident.

Now I have no guns.

I think that was the same boating accident I had because I also lost all my guns.

 

[WebleyGreene455]

I think that was the same boating accident I had because I also lost all my guns.

I had a boat once but I lost it in a shooting accident. It had all my guns on it, so unfortunately I lost those in a boating accident as well.

They just don't make 'em like they used to...

 

[LivingTheDream]

I had a boat once but I lost it in a shooting accident. It had all my guns on it, so unfortunately I lost those in a boating accident as well.

They just don't make 'em like they used to...

With all these boating accidents I now see why demand has been so high.

 

[BourbonTrail]

We need to write laws against driving a boat without a license, so boating accidents can’t happen.

Especially high capacity boats, so we stop losing all of our guns at once. Damn boats.

 

[Firebird]

I have added 4 or 5 guns to my safe over the past two years. Not my first nor will they be the last. But no AR’s or handguns. Just boring hunting shotguns and rifles. I have a duck hunting boat and it is still fully functioning. . . For now

 

[LivingTheDream]

I was wondering; is there a survey on the kind of people who buy guns

Specifically, I'm talking about how many guns the buyer already owns

I heard during 2020, most of the guns and ammo were being bought by totally new gun owners.

So I was wondering if there were any statistics to show how this number fluxuates

Based on this thread there seems to be a strong correlation to gun purchases and boat owners. I bet this is a statistic no one is even tracking.

 

[Cam Moon]

I guess I need to buy a boat for when the stupid Canadian liberal government comes to take my guns away from me.

 

[LivingTheDream]

I guess I need to buy a boat for when the stupid Canadian liberal government comes to take my guns away from me.

I wouldnt spend a lot of money on one, they apparently sink all the time.

 

[mark-hunter]

The statistics is easy to do, when there is licensing process, with law that requires "reason to own a firearm".
Of course, it is not America, but the numbers in my country are following:
- 65.000 hunters
- 42.000 firearm owner for reason of self protection
- 2.500 sport shooters.

With licensing process that prevents impulse buying, the numbers and ratio is more or less steady for years.

But in many states in US, with friendly gun laws, buying a firearms is simple, and can be done "on impulse", without too much effort. Pandemics, one of the reasons for extra sales. Or the impulse buying, based on daily politics change, when new gun laws are expected to pass, etc

BTW, I have a question.
Some people own one gun, some own hundred, in USA.
What do you guys think: an average gun owner, how many guns he owns, in average? Would 5 firearms be an acceptable estimated averege number per person?

 

[rookhawk]

What do you guys think: an average gun owner, how many guns he owns, in average? Would 5 firearms be an acceptable estimated averege number per person?

Not sure. I do not think the mathematical average number of guns is a very common actual number of guns possessed. There are many, many people that own 1 gun. There are families that inherited guns and they seem to have 5-8 guns. Then there are the collectors/accumulators/possessors of troves of guns. I know many people that own 30-100 guns, all of no collectible value, all fired once.

Unrelated to your question, I really question the number of firearms in America. There are 320 million people and I hear claims of 400 million firearms in America. I can’t believe that at all. The number sounds way too small. Don’t believe me? Page through the blue book of gun values looking up old gun models you’ve never heard of or never seen, then look up how many they made. For example, that little pump action remington .22lr you don’t see very often? They made over a million of that one gun. You add up all those first-half of the 20th century guns you’ve never heard of that all sold 100,000 to 1 million units and it looks like a lot more than 400 million guns in the USA. It has to be closer to a billion guns, or about 3 guns for every human in America, in my opinion.

 

[mark-hunter]

I understand the logic, of historical gun production, but guns also have life expectancy.
How many 100 year old guns have you seen in life - I mean seen, not found on internet?
Me?
Less then 5!
They rust, corrode, deteriorate, need refurbishing that costs, etc, then they just get dumped, or destroyed.

Its the same logic as cars.
How many have been mass produced in last 120 years?
And how many 50-100 year old cars have you actually seen on highways and streets?
Yes, if good, they have values, but in most cases they just get dumped.

 

[ldmay375]

The statistics is easy to do, when there is licensing process, with law that requires "reason to own a firearm".
Of course, it is not America, but the numbers in my country are following:
- 65.000 hunters
- 42.000 firearm owner for reason of self protection
- 2.500 sport shooters.

With licensing process that prevents impulse buying, the numbers and ratio is more or less steady for years.

But in many states in US, with friendly gun laws, buying a firearms is simple, and can be done "on impulse", without too much effort. Pandemics, one of the reasons for extra sales. Or the impulse buying, based on daily politics change, when new gun laws are expected to pass, etc

BTW, I have a question.
Some people own one gun, some own hundred, in USA.
What do you guys think: an average gun owner, how many guns he owns, in average? Would 5 firearms be an acceptable estimated averege number per person?

I will not venture to guess what average is.
I would guess that there a lot of households still having: 1ea “high-powered” rifle, 1ea shotgun, 1ea rimfire rifle, and possibly 1ea rimfire handgun and 1ea centerfire pistol or revolver. These days I would not be surprised if an AR type is also in the mix.
I guess that I don’t know a lot of average households. That what make a starter-pack for many that I know.

Edit:
I truly hope that we never really know.
Those above guesses were for more rural households. Large City households, no idea.

 

[Rocked and Loaded]

BTW, I have a question.
Some people own one gun, some own hundred, in USA.
What do you guys think: an average gun owner, how many guns he owns, in average? Would 5 firearms be an acceptable estimated averege number per person?

It’s hard to say. As rookhawk said there are a lot of people who have just one or two guns either inherited or picked up at some point for casual shooting or maybe a single pistol purchased with self defense in mind. On the other hand you have real dyed in the wool gun people. I don’t know any gun people with fewer than 10 guns. Most probably have quite a few more than that.

 

[mark-hunter]

My view on rural, or urban ownership is following:
Pistols are top sellers, and most favorite among urban population. (non hunters, of course, so sportsmen mostly)
i am member of shooting club, and newbies are joining in order to train and compete on handguns, 90% pistol oriented, 10% (or less to revolver)
Who joins the club, joins for pistol shooting.

in recent few years, sporadic cases (but really sporadic) is those with immediate interest to long range shooting, so they go for scoped rifle, and for long range competitions. Rare cases, but evident. In sport community pistols are the most poplar, by large margin.
Pistols are most economic, and ammo is the cheapest when compared to rifle centerfire ammo. in smaller apartment in cities, is easier to store, in small safe.
Transport to range, easier.

Hunters need long guns, (and i think majority of hunters is from rural areas, maybe 60%-70%) so all of them will have at least high power rifle + shotgun. Some, will have additional 22lr or other rimfire rifle and pistol is just maybe. Attitude towards the pistol in hunting community is to take it as selfdefence against bear, or boar where they are frequent to meet in some areas . If no such risk, most will not have it.

 

[Daggaboy375]

I know 4 acquaintances that own over 700 guns. No serious collectors. That should help the average.

DB