I would say that someone has a typo. That should probably read that 22% of people are NOT gun owners. These numbers DO NOT ADD UP!

Yeah, I thinking that number is a bit under the actual number. I would garner an estimate of closer to 550 plus million guns. And Gun ownership did NOT decrease in 2016. I myself added a few more to my collection. I guess I would be one of those super-owners. Of course that nagging question of how many more guns can they afford to buy? Well, all I WANT! In fact Saturday I get to go pick out two new Glocks.

We DO NOT like answering surveys and I find the type of people that do, usually do not tell the truth anyway.

The answer to your question of as far as need goes, I don't need this many I just like guns. According to Fortune, the average "super-owner" owns 17 guns already, and here you have to ask yourself "why?" BECAUSE WE CAN and yes I have more than 17....DUH!! Heck, take my employees, alone I know that each one of them have at least 10 or more and my business is not gun related. I know in Oregon alone well over 200k were sold in 2015.

I know for a fact in my little town that a LOT of people that have never owned a gun bought more than one in 2016. Surveys, got to hate them...

Indeterminate.

Fuzzy Factor #1 - How many guns are there in the US. The have squishy numbers on how many were sold in America. Squishy because that does not mean they stayed here for 1, no good numbers on guns destroyed or lost for 2, and imports from outside are not and never will be fully documented.

Fuzzy Effect 1 - increases possible ceiling of gun owners.

Fuzzy Factor #2 - How many gun owners have more than 1 gun. What is the norm or average count for their guns.

Fuzzy Effect #2 - Decreases total of gun owners

22%? About as accurate as Obamas performance numbers. http://www.starznbarz.com/Photography...

While common sense is a complete fail for many, I would not consider government regulations. My Father taught me (at 10 years old) but he also taught firearms in the Marines. I have to respect it for what it is and what it can do. To me, that is just common sense. Government involvement will not require common sense at any level. At least, it never has yet. We have many government officials who demonstrate lack of common sense and go to work everyday.

lol, no worries. I let my words raise the temp.

Watch your blood pressure...

And I agree with you.

It none of their damn business anyway. And they don't need to know who I am unless I'm violating a law. Things have been so freakin upside down in this country.

You really want to stop gun crime in America? Impose an automatic 20 years for crimes committed with a gun (1 appeal) and automatic death sentence for someone murdered (not killed) by a gun (execution within 30 days if there is definitive proof of guilt). Easy.

I don't know, but I once heard that every time you hear a bell ring (in the sporting goods store), a citizen gets his gun (or was it, an angel get its wings?).

How about "I can't remember how many I have, unless I really think about it?".

I assume, by "minimal training" you are willing to accept an adult teaching a child (or their spouse) basic firearms safety?

Many times, people purchase guns prior to taking a class. After all, there is nothing in the Second Amendment that stipulates either previous training or a background check to practice your right to keep and bear arms.

I'm not saying some amount of training isn't desirable. If nothing else, safety training could save the new owner's life. I only say this to ensure that some government official can't require a prospective gun owner to take an expensive, government mandated, course (after the requisite background checks), prior to purchasing.

Good analysis. One other thought about the 'shortage' of ammo. I read that the Feds bought up a lot of it. That made me nervous - just who are the Feds arming that they didn't arm before?

I doubt the veracity of this article. What really matters is that there are citizens buying guns and ammo.So long the industry is doing well with introducing new firearms and ammo to the market place everything is fine. Out there right now are 10mm handguns and 6mm bore rifles. Also, copper composite bullets, and other varieties of new style ammo. The industry is far from quiescent. I, myself am looking to purchase a Rough Rider western style revolver, a derringer, some type of rifle. I already have a variety of different handguns.

Most states have a restriction that a gun dealer can only sell to the owner-to-be and must collect information from that person. It is prohibited to sell a gun as a gift at this point in time. A gift card is suggested by most gun dealers. If the buyer states that it will be gifted, they can be fined.

The Liberals that are buying guns now because they feel Trump's presidency is putting them in danger, although they'll never practice with it, are not a danger to Liberty. The gun will most likely never be used and in a few years turned in for a $100 shopping card. It takes more than a gun to be able to use a gun; it takes a mindset which Liberals don't have. In Orlando, the killer executed them one at the time, while talking on the phone, browsing social media sites and changing magazines. Yet, no one attacked him or otherwise tried to defend themselves. They just laid down and died. The video of the Ft. Lauderdale killer shows how people that were behind him, instead of attacking the killer from behind, just laid down and prepared to die. With that kind of a mindset, guns will not help them.

Just getting ready to make that comment when I saw that you had beaten me to it.
The more the Liberals show us that they are insane, then the more that percentage will continue to rise.

Good for you, you can never have TOO much security..reload time and all...

Exactly! +1!

78% of US Citizens are going to be in real trouble when they need it. 78% of the citizens also will have a problem if someone breaks in. It also means there are an awful lot of people who have a lot of guns. Good for them.

You are probably correct, I used to call on a weaving company and they made Checkered table cloths. The geared up and made a bunch of green and white and all the orders that came in were for Blue and white....it killed them! The company survived but they had to take on a bunch of investors and the original partners ended up as employees. That is one step away from being out the door...which usually takes about 18 to 24 months!

I think the manufacturers were reluctant to gear up to higher production rates because they feared the upsurge in demand was short-term. They know their history too. Whole companies have gone bankrupt because they geared up for wartime demand (military contracts), and then after the war was over, not only did the military demand decrease, but war surplus further depressed the civilian market. This happened to Sharps after the Civil War, and Winchester after World War I. (The original Winchester Repeating Arms Company founded by Oliver Winchester in 1866 eventually went bankrupt in 1931 and was bought by Western Cartridge and eventually became "a division of Olin Corporation.") But, with all the new gun owners, the baseline demand is now higher (reliably), so it appears production rates are up. I have seen .22 LR ammo locally here in Sportsman's Warehouse a lot more too.

Especially after some newspaper (I forget which) took admittedly public-domain information on conceal-carry license holders and posted an online map of their locations and addresses, like they were posting information about local sex offenders. A CLEAR violation of privacy!

Okay, I went to the article and actually read it (most of it), and some of their numbers are correct, or at least in the right ballpark. For example, they claim the total population of the USA is 319 million. I have heard elsewhere that 320 million is close, so I agree with 319. Of course, with all the illegals streaming into this country, that number is a snapshot in time; its continually increasing. They then claim that the percentage of Americans owning firearms has decreased from 25% to 22%. This figure is TOTAL FAKE NEWS! Multiplying 319 x 0.22 = 70.18. When I was in grade school (back in the 1960s), I remember hearing that there were 63 million gun owners in the country. But, back then, the total population was only around 200 million. As the years went by, that 63 million gun owners figure steadily increased (right along with the overall population). Back in the 1990s, the NRA claimed that there were over 90 million gun owners, and with all the NEW first-time gun owners who have entered the market (in response to gun control scares from both Clinton and Obama), the number of gun owners has increased to well over 100 million. Of course, we really don't know that number all that well precisely because we have no "universal" gun registration, at least that is uniform over the whole country. New Jersey probably has a better handle on how many people own guns than does the state of Alaska. Its also hard to define how many gun owners there are. For example, if a married man has a gun in his house, is his wife considered a gun owner too? Even though she may never have fired it? If they were victim of a home invasion and the husband is killed by the creep, will the wife take the gun and kill the intruder? And, of course, there are tens of millions of children (under 18) included in that 319 million Americans (how many? - 30-40 million?). Yes, some gun owners have "many" guns. Some have only 1. In any large population, there is a distribution. What numbers do I believe? I'll admit to 320 million citizens, out of which there are 30 million under 18. So, 100 million gun owners divided by (320-30=290) million adults, gives a percentage of 34%. I have also heard there are around 300 million privately-owned firearms in the country. That would imply an average number of guns per gun owner of 3 (not the 8 or so claimed in the article). The political spin of this article wants its readers to believe that sure, gun sales are way up, but its only the same gun owners who are buying ever more guns because they're paranoid over the liberal gun control agenda. The truth is that there really are many new gun owners in this country. The whole "gun community" (and industry) knows this. Firearms safety instruction, concealed-carry classes, etc., are seeing a tremendous upsurge in first-time buyers who want to train in the use of their new firearms. The "gun industry" (like any other business), wants to grow, and they have recently (in the last 10-15 years or so) discovered - WOMEN! Twenty years ago, you would NEVER see pink camo and pink gun stocks! But, girls like pink, and a lot of women have discovered that they enjoy the shooting sports (and even hunting!) just like their husbands, fathers, brothers, etc. The fact that there are many new gun owners is also supported by the recent ammunition shortages in sporting goods stores. Long-time gun owners already know how to shoot, and don't go out shooting as much. New gun owners are enthusiastic about learning to shoot for the first time, and so the demand for ammo is expanding faster than the makers can keep up.

"How many gun owners are there?"

More than they will ever know!

I will bet there are more guns in possession of the American people from long before they ever thought about registering them.

Initially I like the idea but some minimal training is necessary to make this a safe practice.