Americans own 423M guns & 8.1B rounds of ammunition, latest data shows

americanmilitarynews.com ^ | Dec. 5, 2019 | KYLE PERISIC

[PROCON]

Rates of firearm ownership and gun sales are on the rise despite calls for gun control, according to a report released Wednesday by the Firearms Industry Trade Association (FITA).

Using the most recent data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF’s) Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Export Reports (AFMER) to draw its conclusions, FITA’s report stated there are 422.9 million firearms in civilian possession from 1986 to 2018, along with an estimated 8.1 billion rounds of various firearms calibers and gauges.

The report also noted that in a 25 year period between 1993 and 2017, the violent crime rate has dropped by 48.6 percent while firearms-related accidents have decreased by 68 percent.

“These figures show the industry that America has a strong desire to continue to purchase firearms for lawful purposes,” said Joe Bartozzi, President of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. “The Modern Sporting Rifle continues to be the most popular centerfire rifle sold in America today and is clearly a commonly-owned firearm with more than 17 million in legal private ownership today. The continued popularity of handguns demonstrates a strong interest by Americans to protect themselves and their homes, and to participate in the recreational shooting sports.”

The report showed more than half of all rifles purchased in 2017 were modern sporting rifles, indicating a strong interest in those types of firearms despite increasing legal obstacles. In fact, some gun shop owners say sales have gone up, not in spite of, but because of many proposals for more restrictive gun control policy.

[Secret Agent Man]

Reminds me, I need to pick up more ammo.

[Secret Agent Man]

And sadly all in the lake....

[Sparticus]

If this is accurate, clearly there are a lot of people who need to seriously step up their game on their ammo stash. That’s only about 20 rounds per weapon.

My thoughts exactly

[Howie66]

Okay, people! Let’s ramp it up!! Need to cut out the slacking off!

[Blood of Tyrants]

I have a hard time believing the average gun owner has less than 20 rounds of ammo.

[facedown]

That’s just domestic production.

Yup. Mexico alone pumps out billions. Think Aguila.

[Cobra64]

Well, it’s a start...

[Cobra64]

General rule of thumb... one case (thousand rounds) per caliber.

[Kozak]

Doesn’t seem like enough ammo for the number of guns only works out to 20 rounds /weapon. need to buy more ammo.

[chris37]

Yes, we do.

[joma89]

And soon to be 423M and one!

JoMa

[Snake Skin Sonny]

Where do you keep something like that?

Oh, the usual places.

One under my pillow, one under Ma's pillow, one in the dog's bed, one under the dog's bed, two in the kitchen, one in my Barcalounger, one in Ma's Barcalounger, one in my desk, one beside my desk, one in Ma's vanity, one beside the toilet, one at the top of the stairwell, one at the bottom of the stairwell, more than one (you guess) in the hall closet, two, maybe six in the mudroom, several in my truck, several in Ma's car, several in my Jeep, one above the front door of the shop, one above the back door of the shop, several in the shop, and probably 18-20 in my gun cabinet in the living room and another 18-20 in my gun cabinet in the den.

And I ain't never had a boat accident, and I ain't gonna have one.

Come and take them.

Oh, yeah, I forgot...there's the one in my pocket and the two in Ma's purse.

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(And believe it or not, someone out there will think this was just a joking post. It was not.)

God bless America.

[William Tell]

"Americans own 423M guns & 8.1B rounds of ammunition ..."

I wish to go on record as denying that I am in any significant way responsible for this situation. Where would I even put 8 billion rounds of ammunition? That number is outrageous and any gun owner who owns 8 billion rounds of ammunition should be encouraged to share it with others.

Wait ... Would that be socialism? Never mind. Everybody will have to get their own ammo. Carry on.

[elbook]

The first thing a tyrant does is to take away The People’s guns.

Without guns you cant say ‘NO’ to a tyrant (something they hate).

Our Leftists want to take away guns for the same reason.

[Truthoverpower]

Both my landlord and neighbor have Arsenals. Serious Arsenals

My opinion is it’s conservatives who have most of the weapons and training

It’s not just anecdotal Both these dudes and I are like the three Republicans here in Marin county ca

[lepton]

So 19 rounds per weapon?

That’s a pretty meager supply.

[2111USMC]

I’m a little low on ammo right now. A quick count that I can see from my desk is just a little over 3000 rounds.

[ealgeone]

You know the reason why foreign governments don’t invade our country? Because Americans own 423M guns

You know why our own government has not moved against us?

Because Americans own 423M guns.

[fatherofthree]

Just think if the government treats us this poorly with that many firearms in our hands, just imagine how we will be treated if we didn’t have any. That’s not my quote, but I don’t know the author. We really don’t have to imagine, there are plenty of examples: Soviet Union, Communist China, Nazi Germany.

[familyop]

"FITA’s report stated there are 422.9 million firearms in civilian possession from 1986 to 2018"

Wow. All of those people kept exactly that number of firearms for all of those years without getting rid of any or buying new ones. Amazing.

There's no way to find out how many firearms are in the population. My wild guess would be around 600 million. There are hilly areas, where many families each have an old Browning or Remington semi-auto rifle in good condition.