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I heard it just on the radio, that the Ministery of Interior claims that Finland have most guns per capita in the world. 1.7M to a population of about 5.1M. That gives one gun per 3 persons! I can't believe it! Surely the Americans must be leading in guns per capita?

Do you have a gun?

No, the only time I had one was when I was in the military.

Probably most people in U.S. cities don't have a gun. I think certain states of different numbers as well, with states like Texas getting all the press.

I know that here in Canada, people in the rural areas tend to own a gun or two, people in the city tend to grow up never seeing one. Additionally for Canada, with handguns being illegal, the number of city dwellers with weapons is even less.

von Neufeld wrote:I heard it just on the radio, that the Ministery of Interior claims that Finland have most guns per capita in the world. 1.7M to a population of about 5.1M. That gives one gun per 3 persons! I can't believe it! Surely the Americans must be leading in guns per capita?

No, that's completely incorrect. There are 200 million guns owned in America out of a population of over 280 million (nearly half the population owns guns, and many people own several).

Even in Europe, Switzerland would have a higher per capita gun ownership than that, so I doubt they meant Europe by mistake. Perhaps in the EU?

Alternatively they could have been using some criteria that discounted the USA for some reason.

von Neufeld wrote:I heard it just on the radio, that the Ministery of Interior claims that Finland have most guns per capita in the world. 1.7M to a population of about 5.1M. That gives one gun per 3 persons! I can't believe it! Surely the Americans must be leading in guns per capita?

Whee! I have four guns, that means I'm better them most of my country men.

Finland also has more privately owned machine guns per capita than any country on earth.

Perinquus wrote:Finland also has more privately owned machine guns per capita than any country on earth.

Yes, they are quite popular here among gun collectors.

Bah, I'll get my Grenade launcher someday.

A semi-auto shotgun is what the law sees it as...

Perinquus wrote:Finland also has more privately owned machine guns per capita than any country on earth.

And what a flaming pit of anarchy Finland is because of it. Did you know kevlar vests are part of the national dress in that country?

Ok, sarcasm off. Any more will probably violate the gun control moratorium I voted for.

von Neufeld wrote:I heard it just on the radio, that the Ministery of Interior claims that Finland have most guns per capita in the world. 1.7M to a population of about 5.1M. That gives one gun per 3 persons! I can't believe it! Surely the Americans must be leading in guns per capita?

Perhaps if "world" is defined as nations which share land borders with Finland it could be true.

BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE has all the figures in there...and I recollect hearing about Finland owning the most guns per captia. However it was mathamatically calculated with the current population and size of land etc...I believe.

Perinquus wrote:Finland also has more privately owned machine guns per capita than any country on earth.

Perhaps. Now if they were all operational, it might be significant. Possession of automatic weapons is prohibited, so all such must be converted to single-fire or made non-functional, afaik. Or if you are allowed to have an unmodified one, I don't want to know the height of the paper work mountain and red tape required...

Edi

I think I know why the USA might not have been counted. There are an "estimated" 200 million guns "in circulation" in the USA.

One has to remember that registration of guns doesn't (thankfully) exist in the USA - so firm figures on per capita gun ownership cannot exist. There's no actual hard data, just estimates, which might be off by rather fair margins.

They probably only included countries where the number of guns is recorded in their study. Likewise, Swiss gun ownership might have been equated with the military and thus discounted.

Three per person? Well, whoop-de-fucking-do, the house I'm in has no less than 50 under lock and key.

And I wouldn't want it any other way (well, except having 50 of my own guns, perhaps...)

Darth Utsanomiko wrote:Three per person? Well, whoop-de-fucking-do, the house I'm in has no less than 50 under lock and key.

Barracks with attached armory?

Darth Utsanomiko wrote:Three per person? Well, whoop-de-fucking-do, the house I'm in has no less than 50 under lock and key.

And I wouldn't want it any other way (well, except having 50 of my own guns, perhaps...)

You live in America...why am I not suprised...

The Great Unbearded One wrote:

Darth Utsanomiko wrote:Three per person? Well, whoop-de-fucking-do, the house I'm in has no less than 50 under lock and key.

And I wouldn't want it any other way (well, except having 50 of my own guns, perhaps...)

You live in America...why am I not suprised...

Hey, hey...he lives in rural America. The only gun I own is a small Daisy air rifle from when I was a little kid.
I've never fired a real gun, and I've only held one once.

Not all of America is gun-crazy.

Enlightenment wrote:

Darth Utsanomiko wrote:Three per person? Well, whoop-de-fucking-do, the house I'm in has no less than 50 under lock and key.

Barracks with attached armory?

and

Robert Treder wrote:

The Great Unbearded One wrote:You live in America...why am I not suprised...

Hey, hey...he lives in rural America. The only gun I own is a small Daisy air rifle from when I was a little kid.
I've never fired a real gun, and I've only held one once.

Not all of America is gun-crazy.

It's a collection owned by our father, which is actually about 50% of a larger collection of our paternal grandfather, which our father and uncle divided when he died in the 1970s. The guns range in age from being made last year to predating the American Civil War by a few decades.

It's more of a family inheritence than a bloody armoury, Narc.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:It's a collection owned by our father, which is actually about 50% of a larger collection of our paternal grandfather, which our father and uncle divided when he died in the 1970s. The guns range in age from being made last year to predating the American Civil War by a few decades.

It's more of a family inheritence than a bloody armoury, Narc.

Nothing like owning an LC Smith Crown Grade to make a shotgun feel like an extension of your arm, eh?

Though the modified Mauser 98s, the broomhandle Mauser pistol, the PPK, the Beretta over/under shotgun, the pair of Colt .22 pistols, the BSA martini drop-action .22 rifle, the Winchester 1300 12-guage, the Winchester 16-guage, the pair of semi-auto 20-guage Brownings, and the matched set of Derringers are pretty swell, too.

But who the hell cares about ammount, anyway?

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:
It's a collection owned by our father, which is actually about 50% of a larger collection of our paternal grandfather, which our father and uncle divided when he died in the 1970s. The guns range in age from being made last year to predating the American Civil War by a few decades.

It's more of a family inheritence than a bloody armoury, Narc.

Sounds much like my dads collection. Over 125 rifles and handguns in the same age range as your fathers. Though most are from around 1890 through 1950 or so.

Sea Skimmer wrote:

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:
It's a collection owned by our father, which is actually about 50% of a larger collection of our paternal grandfather, which our father and uncle divided when he died in the 1970s. The guns range in age from being made last year to predating the American Civil War by a few decades.

It's more of a family inheritence than a bloody armoury, Narc.

Sounds much like my dads collection. Over 125 rifles and handguns in the same age range as your fathers. Though most are from around 1890 through 1950 or so.

The American curio&relic solution is good IMO. Nothing like it over here in Europe, 'cause there are so many incidents were people rob banks with 90 year old bolt action rifles.

(I've been trying to get a gun license for more than 7 months now but still nothing.)

Vympel wrote:Do you have a gun?

I have a gun, a .22 rifle, my dad has one too, I've also had 2 air rifles and 2 air pistols before.

The Duchess of Zeon wrote: One has to remember that registration of guns doesn't (thankfully) exist in the USA - so firm figures on per capita gun ownership cannot exist. There's no actual hard data, just estimates, which might be off by rather fair margins.

Now, you just made me wonder, why the thankfully?

The Duchess of Zeon wrote:There are 200 million guns owned in America out of a population of over 280 million (nearly half the population owns guns, and many people own several).

The NRA stats say that there are 80 million gun owners, only about 5 million or so are NRA members; VPC likes to say about 60-70 million. Of course there are those who won't say whether they have guns or not for whatever reason (they may be criminals or don't trust 'da gummint', or they may be regular folks who just feel it's nobody's damn business) so the stats are probably skewed.