I can't believe it! - Guns per capita

[Uraniun235]

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?

Probably a (healthy, in my opinion) distrust of government.

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

There are huge swaths of land in the US that are rural, where a lot of people have acres of land. Among them are farmers who raise livestock... livestock which can be preyed upon by coyotes, big cats (yes, we do have big cats roaming the wild), or other natural predators. In these instances, the gun becomes a necessary tool.

Also in these vast expanses of rural America is the fact that the response time for authorities to arrive at your house is much longer than it would be in the suburbs. My English teacher related the story of when a man, deranged (later found out from drugs) had come to his door and started beating on it. It took the police about 15 minutes to arrive at his house, during which time he had a gun pointed at the door.

Civilian gun ownership is not an inherently irrational idea, and though there are some people who would probably be fairly recognized as "gun nuts" (though I suspect a number of them would also be fairly isolated from most of society) I find myself irritated with the knee-jerk "Americans = gun nuts" response.

[Nathan F]

And what is wrong with having a gun collection and being a gun nut?

Anyhoo, some rural areas (such as mine) consider firearms to be an essential tool.

And yes, this is bordering on the gun control moratorium...

Now, here are the reasons that people should own M-249s and Mk. 19s...

[Master of Ossus]

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?

Some countries, like Switzerland, actually require each household to have access to a firearm. Finland is probably one of them.

[Joe]

Kennesaw, Georgia, still requires gun ownership, I think. I don't know how heavily enforced this law is, however.

[Edi]

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?

Some countries, like Switzerland, actually require each household to have access to a firearm. Finland is probably one of them.

Eh, no. It is most definitely not required. You need a permit to own a gun, and the permit isn't granted unless you can justify why you should get one. 'For self-defense' is not an acceptable reason. Most guns in Finland are hunting rifles or shotguns, afaik.

Quite a few people have war era guns stashed away in attics or other storage places, often forgotten about. My dad still has my grandfather's service pistol from WW2 (a 7.65 mm Parabellum) locked away. It's not been fired for decades, but should be functional, and it is quite valuable as a collector's piece, having all of the original parts and matching serial numbers.

There has been talk about relaxing the gun licensing scheme in order to allow people to keep heirloom guns instead of needing to turn them in, though you will still need a carry permit if you wish to lug it around and that won't be relaxed anytime soon, if ever.

Edi

[The Duchess of Zeon]

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.

The NRA is conservative in this case; I've seen figures of around 50% before. It also does seem odd considering that the figure of around 200 million civilian-owned (legal) firearms is often cited. That would mean that on average each gun owner owns 2.5 guns as opposed to 1.5. I know lots of people who own arsenals or multiple weapons, but there are a heck of a lot more who just have one for personal protection, target practice, etc.