Here are the results: As shown, when considered from a global perspective, there is no correlation between the number of guns per capita in a country and the number of firearm-related homicides. Overall, 69% of all U.S. adults and 75% of those who own a gun say the world has become a more dangerous place. This is even more remarkable considering the state's population is fairly small. Alaska has the highest rate of gun ownership in the U.S., with nearly 62 percent of adults owning a gun. And while 68% of those who live in rural areas who have never owned a gun say they have fired one, about half of those who live in urban (48%) or suburban (56%) areas have had this experience. In Oklahoma, 54.7% of adults have guns at home. White, Deborah. The initiative aimed to transform firearms into gardening tools. Wyoming is the state with the most guns per capita, while New York is the state with the fewest. Gun Ownership by State In 2001 the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) in North Carolina surveyed 201,881 respondents nationwide, asking them, "Are any firearms now kept in or. 70+ KPIs per store Revenue analytics and forecasts . Of those who didnt grow up with guns in their household, smaller shares say the same (46%). Among adults who have never personally owned a gun, seven-in-ten of those who grew up with guns in their household say they have fired a gun at some point, compared with 47% of those who didnt grow up in a gun-owning household. Gun owners are far more likely than non-gun owners to say people in their community look at most gun owners in a positive way; 78% of gun owners say this is the case, compared with 53% of non-gun owners. Obtaining a permit or license required to even purchase a gun in these states can take weeks and is relatively rigorous. However, the Pew Research Center has compiled data that is about as accurate as it gets. When it comes to hunting, however, rural gun owners are far more likely than their urban or suburban counterparts to say it is as an important reason they own a gun; 48% of gun owners in rural areas say this, compared with 34% in the suburbs and 27% in urban parts of the country. The following statistics portray current gun ownership statistics in the US. In Kentucky, 54.6% of adults have firearms at home. But women are quickly gaining ground in this department. While non-gun owners are less likely to have grown up in a gun-owning household, a substantial share (40%) say this is the case, and about six-in-ten (61%) say they have fired a gun. Around 46% of all 857 million guns in civilian hands around the world belonged to people living in the United States in 2017, a survey has found. But higher shares of male than female gun owners say hunting (43% of men vs. 31% of women) and sport shooting (34% vs. 23%) are major reasons they personally own a gun. Finally, it asked about gun ownership using two separate questions to measure personal and household ownership instead of collecting this information with a single question, as has been the case with previous Pew Research Center reports. About two-thirds of current gun owners (67%) say there were guns in their household growing up, and 76% report that they first fired a gun before they were 18. The majority of gun owners are male, and make up around 43% of gun owners. That's a total of 104,998 registered guns among 3,080,156 residents. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. Chart. After taking the man into custody, police later confirmed the rifle was a replica Airsoft weapon. Other proxies, some of which have been used in combination with firearm suicides, include per capita measures of hunting licenses, firearm background checks, and even subscriptions to Guns & Ammo magazine. It covers only a subsection of weapons short-barreled shotguns, short-barreled rifles, and machine guns are included, along with silencers and destructive devices like grenades, but ordinary pistols or AR-15sare not. "Percentage of households in the United States owning one or more firearms from 1972 to 2022." That's 62,527 registered firearms dispersed among 6,626,624 people. For the purpose of this article, were focusing on the total percentage of gun ownership in relation to the states population. In Ohio, 40% of adults have at least one firearm at home. The lowest arms ownership rate is 14.7% in Massachusetts and New Jersey and 14.8% in Rhode Island, and 14.9% in Hawaii. The Second Amendment is often hotly contested since it deals with the right to bear arms, and is often broken down and criticized for not being up to date or not applicable to modern firearms. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); ProjectGunner is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. In 2017, there were nearly 40,000 gun-related deaths in the United States, including homicides and suicides. States with the highest percentage of gun owners Montana 66.30% Wyoming 66.20% Alaska 64.50% Idaho 60.10% West Virginia 58.50% Arkansas 57.20% Mississippi 55.80% Alabama- 55.50% South Dakota 55.30% North Dakota 55.10% States with the lowest percentage of gun owners Massachusetts 14.7% New Jersey 14.70% A member of the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team, headquartered in Boise, holds an automatic rifle while standing near the U.S. Capitol Building on the eve of the inauguration of President Joe Biden. Measuring gun ownership comes with its own set of challenges. Various state laws surrounding registration and permits also drive these statistics, since states throughout the South, Midwest, and West have more relaxed laws overall in reference to the steps required for registration and carrying when compared to many Northern states. California, the nation's largest state, ranks third by the sheer number of estimated gun sales (about 1.2 million), while Texas and Florida, two other huge-population states, are in the top three, both with estimated sales over 1.6 million. About four-in-ten men who grew up in a gun-owning household (44%) say they went shooting or to a gun range at least sometimes when they were growing up, while about a quarter of women (27%) say the same. Gun Ownership By Gender 39% of men own a firearm, while 22% of women say the same. An estimated 42.8% of Minnesotans share their homes with at least one firearm. Among those who own a single gun, most (62%) say that gun is a handgun or pistol, while far fewer say they own a rifle (22%) or a shotgun (16%). Roughly seven-in-ten male gun owners (69%) say they own a rifle and 60% own a shotgun, compared with 50% and 44% of women who own each type of gun, respectively. According to the researchers, an extraordinarily high rate of gun ownership in the U.S. has contributed to the prevalence of violence here. Are you interested in testing our corporate solutions? As for the gun-owning majority, Steward said, "The low end's . Thirty-three percent of Americans aged 50 and older own at least one gun. Roughly three-quarters of Americans who currently own a gun (73%) say they cant see themselves ever not owning one, and this is the case among majorities of gun owners across demographic groups. Most gun owners (66%) say they own more than one gun, with about three-in-ten (29%) saying they own five or more guns. Most gun owners are also college-educated, with over 50% of owners having attended college, or obtained post-graduate degrees. One of the many reasons why there are more guns in the United States than there are people, is our Constitutions 2nd Amendment that reads, A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.. In the survey the question was asked in the following wording: "Do you have a gun in your home? Overall, men who currently own guns or who have done so in the past report that they first became gun owners at age 19, on average; for women who own or previously owned guns, that age is 27. Firearm Mortality by State. Three-in-ten American adults say they currently own a gun, and another 11% say they dont personally own a gun but live with someone who does. City-Data.com compiled the list (We should note there's no source posted for the city-data list) and created the map.It was then spread by a reddit user. Thirty-three percent of Americans aged 50 and older own at least one gun. Among whites, about four-in-ten of those with a high school diploma or less (40%) or with some college (42%) are gun owners, compared with roughly a quarter of white college graduates (26%). Owning and keeping a gun in the home (or business), even if you do not carry, helps reduce the likelihood of being made a target. White, Deborah. Despite the individual states abilities to create laws surrounding how an individual may purchase, carry, and use their weapon- legally obtained firearm ownership is safe from persecution. Rhode Island and New York have the lowest guns per capita of 3 per 1,000 people each. All of these variables are higher in states with higher rates of . How it works: Hover over or tap on a line on the chart to identify the state and year shown. . According to the Small Arms Survey, there are more than 393 million guns in the U.S. That's more than one-third of all civilian-owned guns in the world, making America the No. Prince William County prosecutor Richard C. Conway holds the grip of a small gun during a 2003 trial. There are an estimated 300 million guns in the U.S. Alaska has the highest per capita firepower with nearly 62 percent of its populace having guns.Other states with the high gun ownership rates include Arkansas (57.9 percent) and West Virginia (54.2) in the south and Idaho (56.9) in the west. Fewer gun owners cite a gun collection (13%) or their job (8%) as major reasons. Household Gun Ownership By State, 2012-2016. By contrast, older Americans who grew up in a gun-owning household are far more likely than younger adults who grew up with guns to point to hunting as a reason guns were present in their household. But the trend has not always been upward. Gun ownership in the U.S. 1972-2022 Published by Statista Research Department , Dec 7, 2022 The share of American households owning at least one firearm has remained relatively steady since. An estimated 50.5% of Vermont adults have guns in their homes. Moore is right that Canada has a far lower rate of firearm homicides than its . According to the anti-gun sentiment, this means just about every one of us should be dead in the street, but if you look around, that simply isnt the case. Directly accessible data for 170 industries from 50 countries and over 1 million facts: Get quick analyses with our professional research service. About two-thirds (68%) of whites who have never owned a gun say they have fired one at some point, compared with 32% of blacks and 35% of Hispanics who have never owned a gun. Read our research on: Congress | Economy | COVID-19. Both Massachusetts and New Jersey have some of the strictest gun ownership laws in the United States. 17-19% of 40-45 million adults own a handgun. Here, a red-hot gun barrel is prepared for work on a blacksmith's anvil at an event near the U.S. Capitol in 2021. Nearly four-in-ten current or past gun owners (37%) report that they were younger than 18 when they first got their own gun. Although many own more than one, only 38% of hunters and 30% of sport shooters claim those are their only reason for gun ownership. A marcher wears a pistol on his hip during a "Unite the Right" demonstration in Charlottesville. Fewer cite a gun collection (13%) or their job (8%) as major reasons for owning a gun. There were 77 firearms murders in DC in 2010, down 22% on 2009. Reasons for having had guns in the household growing up vary considerably across community type. Hopefully, this article has introduced some interesting statistics surrounding gun ownership in the United States and has provided you some insights into the vast number of firearms in existence, how they are used, and who they are owned by. Men who grew up in a gun-owning household are also more likely than women who grew up with guns in their homes to say they went shooting or to a gun range growing up, though relatively few men or women say they did this often (13% and 7%, respectively). White men are especially likely to be gun owners: About half (48%) say they own a gun, compared with about a quarter of white women and nonwhite men (24% each) and 16% of nonwhite women. And while 62% of non-gun owners who live in rural areas say they could see themselves owning a gun at some point, smaller shares of those who live in a suburban (49%) or urban (50%) areas say the same. Of Wyoming's 581,075 people, there are 132,806 registered guns. Here, participants check out assault rifles on display at the Border. There is a significant link, however, between owning a gun for protection and perceptions of whether the world, broadly speaking, has become more dangerous. A man carries a rifle with a Texas flag attached to it during a police-appreciation rally in Houston. The new survey asked about gun ownership differently than previous Pew Research Center reports. A Ruger .22 caliber semiautomatic and other guns are displayed on an American flag in Woodbury. Uruguay has 31.8 guns per 100 people. Note that the United States has, by far, the most number of guns per capita, at 89 per 100, but a homicide by firearm rate of only 3 per 100,000. November 15, 2022. Now, lets take a look at gun ownership by state. April 14, 2022 / 6:55 PM (2021, July 31). A paid subscription is required for full access. For example, while 66% of urban gun owners say people in their community generally have a positive view of most gun owners, less than half of those who do not own guns in urban areas say this is the case (42%). Men who grew up in a gun-owning household report that they first fired a gun when they were, on average, 12 years old. Here, armed protesters calling for an end to restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 gather outside the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing in April 2020. Arkansas and Idaho have the next most gun owners (58 percent and 57 percent, respectively). The number of firearms per capita ranges significantly between states. Percentage of households in the United States owning one or more firearms from 1972 to 2022 [Graph]. States are allowed to interpret and conclude at will, as well, and it is the gun owners responsibility to know the laws in the state they reside within. For example, unlike many demographic questions, there is not a definitive data source from the government or elsewhere on how many American adults own guns. The US Constitutional Amendments are a living document created by American forefathers to protect US citizens from government overreach. Researchers can use these annual, state-level measures of household gun ownership rates to test theories about the relationship between gun ownership and crime, injury, and public policy. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. With a steel-constructed body constituting its thickness measured in gauges and secured with one (or more) of the three major lock . Among all current and past gun owners, the average age at which Americans say they first became gun owners is 22 years. The state with the highest per capita gun death rate in 2020 was Mississippi, followed by Wyoming, Louisiana, Alaska, Missouri, and Alabama. Approximately 30% of adult Americans legally own at least one gun, and make up a total of 43% of all households in the United States. In late June 2020, Mark and Patricia McCloskey of St. Louis brandished guns at Black Lives Matter protesters. Here, cut-up firearms are piled on the ground at the Falmouth Police Department in 2021. If you are an admin, please authenticate by logging in again. This partisan gap remains even after controlling for demographic differences. Get full access to all features within our Corporate Solutions. Show publisher information Furthermore, the survey was conducted among adults who have responded to Pew Research Center surveys in the past as part of the American Trends Panel and thus may be more comfortable answering the questions. ", Gallup, Percentage of households in the United States owning one or more firearms from 1972 to 2022 Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/249740/percentage-of-households-in-the-united-states-owning-a-firearm/ (last visited January 18, 2023), Percentage of households in the United States owning one or more firearms from 1972 to 2022 [Graph], Gallup, November 15, 2022. Because of this, over 70% of gun owners own a handgun of some sort, with rifles and shotguns making up the rest. Law Enforcement Approaches for Reducing Gun Violence, Personal Firearm Storage in the United States, The Challenges of Defining and Measuring Defensive Gun Use, Methodological Challenges to Identifying the Effects of Gun Policies, state-level estimates of household firearm ownership from 1980 to 2016. Adjusted for the US population, the number of guns per American increased from 0.93 per person in 1993 to 1.45 in 2013, which is a 56% increase in the number of guns per person that occurred . In this photo, police display drugs and guns confiscated in the state. While men and women are equally likely to say there were guns in their household growing up, men who grew up in a gun-owning household are far more likely than their female counterparts to say they went hunting or shooting when they were growing up. Men and women are about equally likely to say protection is a major reason they own a gun: 65% and 71%, respectively, say this is the case. 40-45% of 47-53 million Americans have a household with a gun. The wording of this has been contested time and again in various courts, but in 2008, theDistrict of Columbia vs Heller case concluded that that the Second Amendment right to bear arms vests in individuals, not merely collective militias, while also ruling that the right is not unlimited. This does not mean that every US citizen can legally carry a firearm, nor does it mean that you can purchase or own any type of firearm, but it does recognize the individuals right to own and carry legally on a federal level. U.S. Capitol in 2021 2017, there were 77 firearms murders in DC in 2010, 22. Owners, the average age at which Americans say they gun ownership per capita by state became owners. 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