Nearly one in three Americans owns a gun

Reuters ^ | 06.30.2015 | Kathryn Doyle

[dware]

(Reuters Health) - Almost a third of American adults own a gun, but the rate varies widely by state and tops out at almost 62 percent of people in Alaska, new survey data show.

Gun ownership was closely tied to “social gun culture,” wherein family and friends also own guns and think less of non-gun owners, researchers found.

“Considering the presence of deeply rooted gun culture and the estimated number of guns in the U.S. to be 310 million, we (suspected) that social gun culture is associated with gun ownership,” said lead author Dr. Bindu Kalesan of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York.

[GingisK]

The key word is actually “a”.

[NorthMountain]

Damn! 2/3 of Americans DON'T own a gun? Bloody slackers! Get with the program, folks. Personal defense from violent crime is YOUR responsibility!

[DoodleDawg]

Nearly one in three Americans owns a gun

Or sometimes one American owns three guns. Like me.

[Brooklyn Attitude]

“Nearly one in three Americans owns a gun”

And they’re going to need it.

[VanShuyten]

“Its an online poll... Nuff said”

From the original article in “Injury Prevention” , a journal for health professionals:

“YouGov invited 11,471 potential participants, out of which 5392 (47.0%) started the survey and eventually 4622 (40.3%) completed the survey.”

I would bet that a very large percentage of those who declined to do the survey, especially those in strict gun law states, own firearms.

The state and regional gun ownership rates can be found here:
http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/early/2015/06/09/injuryprev-2015-041586/F3.large.jpg

[Twinkie]

GUN? GUN? What you talkin’ about, Willis?

[smokingfrog]

Be sure to buy one before you really need it. Especially if your state has a waiting period.

http://youtu.be/xIpLd0WQKCY

[NorthMountain]

Which reminds me ...

I haven’t bought a gun this month.

[elcid1970]

“.....we (suspected) that social gun culture is associated with gun ownership,” said lead author Dr. Bindu Kalesan of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York.”

My FRiend, this “poll” is being pitched by leftwing Reuters as a club to bash “American gun culture” with a view toward changing `how people think about guns’. In other words, pure liberal horsehockey!

IMO it’s waaaaay more than one third of the populace owning at least one gun. How many people are going to answer `yes’ to the question “Do you own guns and if you do, how many?” asked by a mystery voice with unknown number on caller ID?

The immediate suspicion is that whoever’s asking has a problem with your owning guns and wants to do something about it. Either a robber or someone with an agenda.

This is just another use of the “more and more guns in fewer and fewer hands” tactic of marginalizing gun owners to make gungrabbing politicians think they have nothing to fear by calling for the banning of guns.

I googled Bindu Kalesan. A doctor whose medical specialty seems to be surgically removing guns from the hands of owners. Asks her patients if they own guns and then notes their attitude if they reply `none of your business’.

[NorthMountain]

I googled Bindu Kalesan. A doctor whose medical specialty seems to be surgically removing guns from the hands of owners

A colleague of the infamous Arthur Kellerman? I can't find a link between them other than a common interest in fostering crime and tyranny.

[GeorgiaDawg32]

You musta been the person I ran into with my boat. I too suffered the loss of my firearms...:(

[USCG SimTech]

Damn! 2/3 of Americans DON'T own a gun? Bloody slackers! Get with the program, folks. Personal defense from violent crime is YOUR responsibility!

Way more than just your responsibility. It is because I, and YOU are in the militia and at the beckoned call of the United States.

Bet you didn't know that LAW IS ON THE BOOKS:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/311

(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.

(b) The classes of the militia are—

(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and

(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

Since I am in the militia, and so are YOU, I choose to have the best weapon possible not knowing what the enemy might be.

[zeugma]

Only one in three? Seems like I’m covering for several people. Guess that makes sense, since I’m working for several of them with my taxes as well.

[zeugma]

I would die an old, old man in my own bed, preferably of sexual overexertion.

I recently saw something similar, except it was about wanting to die in bed at the hands of an outraged husband.

[NorthMountain]

Actually ... I am aware of that. But thanks for the reminder. That example of Eugene Stoner's design is my Militia Rifle (there are many others like it, but this one is mine).

[Hiddigeigei]

Quote from:
To All Sportsmen, And Particularly to Farmers, and Gamekeepers By Colonel George Hanger (who fought with Banastre Tarleton in the American Revolution)

“The wild turkey is shot with a rifle; nay, even birds and squirrels, from the very top of the loftiest trees in the woods. No small-shot gun, during my residence of seven years of the war in America, was ever kept in the house of a back-woodsman. You will often see a boy, not above ten years of age, driving the cattle home, but not without a rifle on his shoulder: they never stir, out, on any business, nor on a journey, without their rifle; practice, from their infancy, teaches them all distances.”

Hanger is an interesting read; especially about his experiences in the American Revolution.