Posted on 10/10/2026 5:21:47 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Americans are interesting people, far more intelligent than politicians and the media are willing to credit. They make reality-based decisions; most aren’t rich enough to do otherwise, relying on wealth to insulate them from stupid, though politically popular, policies. This is particularly true where their gun-buying in response to the trends of the last half century is concerned:
For most of the 20th century, the American gun owner’s household was defined by the long gun. The rifle over the fireplace, the shotgun in the closet, the family hunting tradition. That picture has flipped. Today the handgun sits at the center of American gun ownership, and the change didn’t happen overnight. It unfolded over roughly half a century, and the data lays it out with unusual clarity.
Wake Forest sociologist David Yamane — a lifelong liberal and self-described late-in-life gun owner who became a first-time buyer at age 42 — describes this as the handgunization of American firearms, a phenomenon spanning the past 50 years. His characterization is blunt. By his telling, the handgun has stopped being a mere accessory in the gun owner’s household. Yamane calls it the undisputed centerpiece. If you’ve bought a gun in the last decade or two, odds are it was a pistol, and the numbers below explain why that feels so normal now.
Start with the long view. In 1973, 40.9 percent of gun-owning homes kept at least one handgun. By 2024, that figure had climbed to 80.4 percent — an all-time high. In other words, the share of gun-owning homes with a handgun roughly doubled over five decades.
That’s certainly remarkable, but rational and predictable. The Second Amendment doesn’t address hunting or sport shooting, but self-defense and citizens' ability to rise up against an oppressive government. Democrats hate all of that, particularly the rising
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
I have more long guns than handguns, but I have more than enough handguns.
Don’t know how to resize image.
Apologies.
Tech bit: https://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_img.asp
Topical: Historically handguns were short range at best, semi-automatics were often semi-reliable, and conditions to generate crime weren’t put into law — the prohibition wave was over and repealed, and not until the 1960s did sloth and unproductiveness get rewarded by LBJ. By 1973 carry permits were an anomaly thanks to anti-gunners.
Knowing defenders were harmless, and raising generations attuned to not work, led to crime.
Crime led to people electing people who signed shall-issue and eventually constitutional carry (it’s exciting to watch one of the time-lapse short videos showing the spread).
With the ability to defend came the desire to do so sparking development in handguns, defensive ammunition technology, and enjoyment. (Also ammo manufacturers were chasing the ‘answer’ to the infamous Miami shooting and resultant FBI requirements)
Still even now comparing MSP stats to population about 10% of MI’s adult population has a permit, which IMO is appalling. It should be quadruple that number, at which point crime would vaporize.
I see where the author is trying to get, but in reality, we have different guns for different uses. They are tools, not toys. We have guns for hunting, guns for self defense, guns for sport, etc. But they are all still tools.
There’s an unusual pistol.
It includes how to post pictures, resize, post links, lots of good information, and it's surprisingly brief.
Jeff Cooper did a lot to popularize defensive uses of the handgun.
So did the Bond movies.
In 1950, the handgun stock was about 22% of all firearms in the USA.
In 2024, the handgun stock was about 44% of all firearms in the USA.
Too many guns? You should have seen America before the 1968 gun control act was passed.
Guns were available at gas stations, liquor stores, hardware stores, sporting goods stores, clothing stores, book stores, record stores, grocery stores, Saddle shops, bus stations.
Cash and carry. No waiting period, no paperwork, no background checks. Just look old enough.
OR, you could chose one from the back of a hunting magazine, drop a check in the mail and it would be shipped right to your door. You could even order fully functional anti-tank rifles and ammo same way.
Yet the murder rate was very low back then and road rage was unheard of. That all changed for the worse when in the 1970s the mental hospitals were closed down and the crazies released on the streets. Murder rate and mass murder rates took of like a rocket.
Mel Tappan did the same for the semi auto military style rifle.
The AR-15 was not well liked back in the 1960s or 1970s.
Gun writers hated it.
Too small a caliber for deer hunting. A “Mouse” Gun! Mattel Toy!
Not really accurate.
No beautiful walnut wood.
So they spent lots of ink writing about how horrible it was.
Then in the mid 1970s Mel Tappan wrote his book on Survival Guns and an interest in the AR-15 began.
Soon Tappan started a series in a gun magazine on Survival guns and interest really took off! All sorts of semi-auto military rifles began to sell off the shelves!
Here were defense rifles even a little woman could shoot in .223 without bruising your shoulder!
Soon other magazines began to publish how great the semi-auto rifles were! “ASSAULT WEAPONS AND TACTICS” “S(urvival).W.A.T” “GUN TESTS” “GUN REPORTS”and many others.
Uzis! AR-180s AK-47/S, Fn-Fal, Styer, Daewoo, England’s SA-80!, Australia! Several nations began to make their military rifles in semi-auto just to sell in the US! IT WAS GREAT! After all, the anti-gun radicals always said they “ONLY wanted to ban HANDGUNS! Rifles would not be affected”, till they found the military looking rifles were a better target to ban than handguns!
And the screaming began about “A-S-S-AULT RIFLES! Suddenly George Bush banned the import of such weapons and all we could then get was US made semi-auto rifles.
Soon the mentally ill criminal element took notice and began to use semi-auto rifles in their crimes and mass murders.
Clinton then “banned” certain items on such rifles and called it an AW Ban!” Those same bowdlerized rifles remained on the store shelves and were selling all through the “ban”.
By now the US citizenry had taken to such semi-auto rifles like a duck takes to water!
I will say one thing. The anti-gun media did more to popularize such weapons than all the pro-gun writers in the US. People who would never touch such a rifle suddenly became interested in them.
Never give up your rights to own such rifles or handguns!
In the 1840’s most of the kids in NY City carried pistols.
Even 8 year old deckhands on Mississippi Riverboats carried pistols in their belts. Sources: “Saturday Evening Post”, Col. Hammond 1849 diary. In 1950’s pistols use were disparaged in the .mountains as they would discharge sometimes when being drawn out of the holster and a toe frequently was shot off.
Suddenly George Bush banned the import of such weapons and all we could then get was US made semi-auto rifles.
After the Bush ban, the importer refunded my money. I was not a happy camper.
Add width=70%, say, after the pic URL in the HTML.
Not a video, but an animated *.gif.
AUGMENTED BY LOUD & ALERT GUARD DOG.
While we have open carry, I find carrying a long arm much more egregious than a handgun. Carrying concealed for 25 years, I’ve learned it’s a necessary burden but one that I would never give up no matter how hot or uncomfortable it might be. The public is better off not knowing who among them is armed, and while I appreciate the right to open carry a long arm, I prefer the concealment aspect of handguns overall.
TY
Since I collect WWI and WWII military sidearms and have lots of others, I’d say I’m doing my part. Currently, I only own 5 long guns. Obviously, I have more on the list to acquire but I haven’t gotten there yet. Another handgun missing from my collection always seems to take priority.
Suffice it to say, I could arm my entire neighborhood.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.