Study: 3 percent owns nearly 50 percent of all guns (barf alert)

America is being held hostage by a tiny minority of absolute lunatics for whom owning two, three, eight or even 10 guns is simply not enough.

That’s the main finding of the first comprehensive study of gun owners in two decades.

Among the many findings — that handgun purchases are soaring, that Americans wrongly believe they need more guns for personal safety, and that there are more privately held guns in this country than cars — is a bit of news so shocking, it should embolden our spineless lawmakers in Washington:

So if gun owners represent a smaller portion of our population — and nearly half of all guns are owned by dead-enders — isn’t it time for our politicians to realize that they don’t have to listen to them anymore?

Frankly, this self-defense argument should be handled by the psychiatrists of all these fraidy cats rather than our politicians, who should be debating concrete facts, not unfounded fears.

Worse, the only thing the self-defense crowd has to fear is the self-defense crowd itself: Studies show that people who die in accidental shootings were more than three times as likely to have had a firearm in their home.

I have more than 1, and I am not one that has them for hunting or sport of even collecting. Strictly protection. I suspect a lot of my neighbors are the same, though some have them for those other reasons as well.

To claim that over 50% of the guns are owned by only 3% seems like a real stretch, and done so solely to make it seem like less people are gun owners than what the reality is. That the population is being held hostage by an extremely small minority.

More likely that 3% of gun owners own 10 or more weapons, but they still do not hold 50% of all guns in America. Now I could be wrong, but I just think this claim is not representative of the reality.

“We should call it the Affordable Gun Act.”

May I then propose:

Title: The Affordable Gun Act
Summary:
- Whereas every Selective Service registrant will, if called up, be required to at minimum know the operation of the M4 rifle with urgency,
- Whereas every citizen of the United States may likewise find themselves in need of such familiarity under duress of unpredictable circumstances,
- Whereas during such situations the availability of such & related equipment may not be guaranteed in a timely & quality manner by the United States military nor subordinate forces,
- Whereas the citizenry of the United States is, on the whole, of upstanding law-abiding moral character naturally empowered with rights & responsibilities of defense of self, family, and state,
- Whereas the M4 select-fire carbine rifle is the standard mundane armament of the modern soldier in service to the United States,
- Whereas the above-referenced natural rights & responsibilities of citizens being necessary to the security of a free states,
- Whereas the Founding Fathers of the United States exemplified their intentions by instituting the Militia Act Of 1792 promptly after enacting the Constitution of the United States,
- Whereas existing law inexplicably and self-destructively defies the above-referenced natural rights & responsibilities of citizens of the United States,
- Whereas the current cost of obtaining or maintaining an M4 rifle, 1000 rounds of standard 5.56x45mm ammunition, and related equipment & training is approximately $2000,
- Be it resolved that every adult citizen, not otherwise individually adjudicated a threat to self or society, has the natural right and non-compulsory responsibility to equip and familiarize self with, at minimum and without implied nor explicit limitation to, keeping and bearing an M4 rifle and related equipment, and
- Be it resolved that no citizen should suffer financial hardship in exercising this resolution, and so thereby shall receive a refundable tax credit in support & facilitation thereof.
Body:
I. 18 U.S. Code § 922(o) is repealed.
II. 26 U.S. Code Chapter 53 is repealed.
III. Federal Income Tax form(s) 1040 shall include:
A) Refundable tax credit of amount $2000*(1 - ((filer’s actual marginal income tax rate)/(maximum applicable marginal income tax rate))) shall be made available to all citizens not otherwise adjudicated a danger to self nor society, and not exceeding the amount of, showing proof of purchase of an M4 rifle, 5.56x45mm ammunition, related equipment, maintenance services, and/or training in use thereof in qualitative match of United States military requirements.
B) The dollar amount and equipment specified by designation in Part A above shall be adjusted annually in accordance with inflation, median costs, and current military standards.
IV. No jurisdiction within the United States shall interfere with a citizen of the United States acting under part III of this section.
A) Anyone who violates part IV of this section shall be prosecuted, personally and individually, for treason against the United States.

You stole the thunder I was going to post.

3% on 50% of guns in the country. Those 3% are Dem politicians, and “ownership” is the same as controlling who shoots whom with the guns in question. A rose by any other name...

“America is being held hostage by a tiny minority of absolute lunatics for whom owning two, three, eight or even 10 guns is simply not enough.”

That’s absolutely correct. The neo-Marxist fascists known as Democrats are absolute lunatics, and America is being held hostage by them. Controlling 1 or 2 guns is not enough for them. They want control of them ALL.

Rough calculations...

There are 300m people and 300m guns in the USA.
3% of the population is 9,000,000 people.
50% of the guns is 150,000,000 guns.
That averages to 17 guns per 3% constituent.

That is a _very_ reasonable conclusion.
A sensibly complete gun collection would typically include
1. bolt-action rimfire rifle
2. bolt-action centerfire rifle
3. semi-automatic rimfire rifle
4. semi-automatic centerfire rifle
5. pump-action shotgun
6. double-barrel shotgun
7. rimfire semi-automatic pistol
8. centerfire semi-automatic “target” pistol
9. centerfire semi-automatic “defense” pistol
10. revolver
11-17. one or more additional variations on several of the above.
...all of which add up to the price of one new car, and all of which do not normally “wear out” (to wit: you buy one, you’ve likely got it for the rest of your life).

I read the report elsewhere last night and found the stats interesting. I suspect the overall count of guns is very low, which skews the numbers. Everyone, or more likely, every family, I know that has guns have half-a-dozen plus each. We typically do not talk about it and I doubt many would speak to a surveyor.

In details, the study is very suspect--organization bias, compensated data, method gathered, poor coverage, etc.

Still, the numbers show more guns, especially by women, less crime. Surveyor bias rejects that obvious conclusion, even while pointing it out.

Good for conversation but flawed.

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