NSSF Estimates 434 Million Firearms in Civilian Possession

[CWL]

Recent report by the NSSF (National Shooting Sports Foundation) estimates there are 434 million firearms in civilian possession as of 2019. This includes approx. 20 million "modern sporting rifles". Perhaps there is hope for our Republic afterall.

NOVEMBER 16, 2020

NSSF RELEASES MOST RECENT FIREARM PRODUCTION FIGURES
Nearly 20 million Modern Sporting Rifles in Circulation

NEWTOWN, Conn. — NSSF®, the firearm industry’s trade association, released the 2020 edition of its Firearm Production Report to members. The report compiles the most up to date information based on data sourced from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF’s) Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Export Reports (AFMER) as well as the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). Key findings for public release showed:

In 2018, 11.4 million total firearms were produced or imported in the United States (less exported firearms).
Approximately one-half (48%) of all rifles produced and imported (less exports) in 2018 were Modern Sporting Rifles.
Since 1990, there are an estimated 19.8 million Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) in circulation today.
An interim 2019 estimate showed a total of 6 million total firearms were produced in the United States. Of those, 3.6 million were pistols and revolvers, 2 million were rifles and 480,000 were shotguns. Those are interim figures that will be updated when complete reports become available from the ATF.
In 2019, there were approximately 3.3 million firearms imported into the United States which included 2.3 million pistols and revolvers, 301,000 rifles and 678,000 shotguns.
From 1991 to 2019, nearly 214 million firearms have been made available to the U.S. market.
According to reports such as: ATF Firearms Commerce in the United States, ATF AFMER and Congressional Research Service data, there are an estimated 434 million firearms in civilian possession in the United States.
There are approximately 71.2 million pistol magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds, and 79.2 million rifle magazines capable of holding 30 or more rounds in circulation.
Firearm and ammunition manufacturing accounted for nearly 12,000 employees producing over $3.9 billion in goods shipped in 2018. An estimated 8.7 billion rounds of all calibers and gauges were produced in 2018 for the U.S. market.

https://www.nssf.org/nssf-releases-m...C%27figures%27

[Wheellock]

I helped with that!

Looks like we can hit 450 M in under two years if we keep it up.

Also, more imported shotguns than domestic...I was surprised.

[golfish]

And half of those are in the hands of CalGun'ers

[sfarchitect]

Frankly, that number strikes me as low.

Or is that "just the ones we know about", i.e. registered firearms?

[HKAllTheThings]

Fun fact - half those pistols are HiPoint C-9s

[CAL.BAR]

Yeah, don't get too excited, those 450+ million guns are owned by the same 32% of the population. 450 million guns is NOT the same as 450 million PEOPLE owning guns.

"We" are still a MINORITY of the population.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/264932/...-own-guns.aspx

[CWL]

Originally Posted by CAL.BAR

Yeah, don't get too excited, those 450+ million guns are owned by the same 32% of the population. 450 million guns is NOT the same as 450 million PEOPLE owning guns.

"We" are still a MINORITY of the population.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/264932/...-own-guns.aspx

I think 2020 changed that by millions.

[California_Deplorable]

Originally Posted by CAL.BAR

Yeah, don't get too excited, those 450+ million guns are owned by the same 32% of the population. 450 million guns is NOT the same as 450 million PEOPLE owning guns.

"We" are still a MINORITY of the population.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/264932/...-own-guns.aspx

Obviously. The US population is 328 million. We have more guns than people. Haha, mureca!

[nick]

Strange, as the estimate was around 400M back in 2009 or 2010 (that's accounting for estimated attrition and not counting some categories, such as home-made guns), and since then at least 100M new firearms were added:

https://www.atf.gov/file/149886/download

[nick]

Originally Posted by CAL.BAR

Yeah, don't get too excited, those 450+ million guns are owned by the same 32% of the population. 450 million guns is NOT the same as 450 million PEOPLE owning guns.

"We" are still a MINORITY of the population.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/264932/...-own-guns.aspx

This isn't correct. Not considering the outliers (which can be as low as 25% and as high as 50%), the surveys generally report 32% to 42%:

https://wamu.org/story/20/09/18/how-...-u-s-own-guns/
https://news.gallup.com/poll/264932/...-own-guns.aspx
https://www.statista.com/statistics/...ing-a-firearm/
https://www.rand.org/pubs/tools/TL354.html

Such high spread results from using different methods and the fact that due to various factors (including their vilifying and persecution) gun owners are often not open about their gun ownership. The second factor also hints at the possibility that the actual numbers are higher.

Also keep in mind that this is the percentage of households with guns in them, not the percentage of gun owners.

[aklon]

Originally Posted by sfarchitect

Frankly, that number strikes me as low.

Or is that "just the ones we know about", i.e. registered firearms?

Think of all the firearms produced before there was registration. How many millions of Model 94 were produced before 1963 and are still there out there?

[3006]

Wild guess the wife doesn't even know how many I own some my dad bought 70 or 80 years ago.

[Oceanbob]

I would have guessed 1/2 Billion.

[M76]

Originally Posted by golfish

And half of those are in the hands of CalGun'ers

And those were tragically lost

[Den60]

We're gonna need a bigger boat.

[Marktallica]

Add at least 40 million to that number, based on 2020 NICS inquiries.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[kurac]

7 million new gun owners this year alone.

[MARKFP]

Boats should be banned, they are dangerous and have caused billions of dollars of property loss and mental frustration.

[Fishslayer]

Originally Posted by kurac

7 million new gun owners this year alone.

Lottsa lefties bragging about arming up.

Guess what? WE still have all the ammo!

[norcalAF]

Originally Posted by golfish

And half of those are in the hands of CalGun'ers

This

[Sierra57]

Originally Posted by CAL.BAR

Yeah, don't get too excited, those 450+ million guns are owned by the same 32% of the population. 450 million guns is NOT the same as 450 million PEOPLE owning guns.

"We" are still a MINORITY of the population.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/264932/...-own-guns.aspx

Citizen gun ownership was dropping for several decades but started climbing again around 2008. There was a poll conducted back around 2014 that showed private gun ownership had gone from 35% to 39%. There was a thread about it on this forum.

Polling also showed that women were the largest group of first time gun buyers, followed by legal immigrants.

[CAL.BAR]

Originally Posted by nick

This isn't correct. Not considering the outliers (which can be as low as 25% and as high as 50%), the surveys generally report 32% to 42%:

https://wamu.org/story/20/09/18/how-...-u-s-own-guns/
https://news.gallup.com/poll/264932/...-own-guns.aspx
https://www.statista.com/statistics/...ing-a-firearm/
https://www.rand.org/pubs/tools/TL354.html

Such high spread results from using different methods and the fact that due to various factors (including their vilifying and persecution) gun owners are often not open about their gun ownership. The second factor also hints at the possibility that the actual numbers are higher.

Also keep in mind that this is the percentage of households with guns in them, not the percentage of gun owners.

Hate to break it to you but... 32-42% is still a MINORITY (and far from a MAJORITY). The take away? FAR more people don't own guns than those who do and the vast majority of guns are owned by people with many guns rather than one or two.

[WartHog]

Originally Posted by CAL.BAR

Yeah, don't get too excited, those 450+ million guns are owned by the same 32% of the population. 450 million guns is NOT the same as 450 million PEOPLE owning guns.

"We" are still a MINORITY of the population.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/264932/...-own-guns.aspx

Yeah, with your Shotgun Joe and the Cumguzzling Whore about to illegitimately take power over us all, expect that number to decline drastically...

[Dr Pete]

They should do a report on how much ammo "we all have"

Boat isn't going to cut it any longer Maybe the Titanic? Just saying

[sfarchitect]

Originally Posted by kurac

7 million new gun owners this year alone.

This(!), is what we need. This is what the firearms community needs to do, bring in lots of new members. This is how we change the dialogue. Not(!) by staging armed protests with old, fat white guys in their faux military garb open carrying and scaring the hell out of passersby.

This is precisely why I volunteer as an RO at my local range. I really enjoy teaching new shooters. Which we've been overrun with this last couple of years. Changing minds one person, or one family at a time. I always go way out of my way to make sure people's first experience, or particularly people bringing their kids, is enjoyable and fun, not intimidating or scary.

This 'new shooters' figure is the number(s) I'd been curious about and had been wanting to find. That has certainly been my experience phenomenologically on our Public Line.

May I ask where this data point came from please?

[IVC]

Originally Posted by Sierra57

Citizen gun ownership was dropping for several decades but started climbing again around 2008. There was a poll conducted back around 2014 that showed private gun ownership had gone from 35% to 39%. There was a thread about it on this forum.

Polling also showed that women were the largest group of first time gun buyers, followed by legal immigrants.

Polls are useless for contentious issues. They couldn't even count Trump supporters because nobody trusted the pollsters.

Hard data such as purchases and alike is much more reliable.

[kurac]

that is 434 million guns produced in the US in the last 25 years alone, its a good solid number for sure

[IVC]

Originally Posted by CAL.BAR

Hate to break it to you but... 32-42% is still a MINORITY (and far from a MAJORITY). The take away? FAR more people don't own guns than those who do and the vast majority of guns are owned by people with many guns rather than one or two.

Two problems here: (1) The "it's owned by people with many guns" is part of the anti-gun narrative and hasn't been proven, and (2) 32-42% of the population doesn't say anything about voting - gun owners tend to be conservative and to vote more often.

[IVC]

Originally Posted by CAL.BAR

Yeah, don't get too excited, those 450+ million guns are owned by the same 32% of the population. 450 million guns is NOT the same as 450 million PEOPLE owning guns.

"We" are still a MINORITY of the population.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/264932/...-own-guns.aspx

Read the methodology in that link and the number of people interviewed. It's calling and relying on people self-identifying.

It's like polls in the middle east showing that there is no homosexuality there, at all* (*Using the same methodology of a random person calling and asking "are you a homosexual"...)

[IVC]

Originally Posted by sfarchitect

This(!), is what we need. This is what the firearms community needs to do, bring in lots of new members. This is how we change the dialogue.

They are useless as long as they vote for gun-control Democrats.

We already have a large contingent of such gun owners on this site, who vote for gun control, then try to avoid responsibility for the gun control they helped enact. I don't find them to be any asset or value in our community when we have to go to court to fight the consequences of their actions. In fact, they would be of more value to us if they just stopped owning guns altogether so we don't have to deal with them in our midst.

Who did you vote for this time around?

Originally Posted by sfarchitect

Not(!) by staging armed protests with old, fat white guys in their faux military garb open carrying and scaring the hell out of passersby.

Racist much? I assume you'd consider it racist to be scared of young, skinny, black guys with guns, right? What' the difference?

[OCEquestrian]

Originally Posted by Den60

We're gonna need a bigger boat.

[OCEquestrian]

Originally Posted by IVC

They are useless as long as they vote for gun-control Democrats.

We already have a large contingent of such gun owners on this site, who vote for gun control, then try to avoid responsibility for the gun control they helped enact. I don't find them to be any asset or value in our community when we have to go to court to fight the consequences of their actions. In fact, they would be of more value to us if they just stopped owning guns altogether so we don't have to deal with them in our midst.

Who did you vote for this time around?

You really have to ask??

[CAL.BAR]

Originally Posted by WartHog

Yeah, with your Shotgun Joe and the Cumguzzling Whore about to illegitimately take power over us all, expect that number to decline drastically...

Lunatic much?

[IVC]

Originally Posted by OCEquestrian

You really have to ask??

It's like bringing a bill to the vote on the house floor - you know the answer, but you want to document each vote so everyone else knows where each one of us stands

[Tarmy]

Guns...what guns?

[newshooter650]

Originally Posted by HKAllTheThings

Fun fact - half those pistols are HiPoint C-9s

I'm part of the Hi-Point crew!

[vino68]

The background checks are not only for firearms, so each one does not necessarily equal a firearm purchase. And when a firearms purchase, it may be for multiple firearms.

Regarding shotguns; yes, most are made overseas and especially in Turkey.

[dozer wright]

Originally Posted by golfish

And half of those are in the hands of 100 CalGun'ers

Fixed it for you.

[IVC]

Originally Posted by IVC

Who did you vote for this time around?

Originally Posted by OCEquestrian

You really have to ask??

He always disappears when confronted with some unpleasant facts.

Just remember, he would cancel us in an eye blink if he had a chance or if he controlled the forum. Just look at how "The liberal gun club" censors anyone who disagrees with their dogmas, where they see a discourse and disagreement as the other person being evil. Toe the line over there, or you're muzzled.

At least he gets to be here and post his far left ideology (and voting pattern, which is what hurts us) without being banned for hurting our cause. Seems like even pointing out his hypocrisy is too much for him to remain in the conversation.

Oh, well, that's what we are against when dealing with the left - they want to annihilate us, yet expect us to treat them with kids gloves and be nice...

[FatCity67]

Originally Posted by sfarchitect

Not(!) by staging armed protests with old, fat white guys in their faux military garb open carrying and scaring the hell out of passersby.