Analysis: Fewer U.S. gun owners own more guns

[billh58]

[center][/center]

(CNN) -- A decreasing number of American gun owners own two-thirds of the nation's guns and as many as one-third of the guns on the planet -- even though they account for less than 1% of the world's population, according to a CNN analysis of gun ownership data.

The data, collected by the Injury Prevention Journal, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the General Social Survey and population figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, found that the number of U.S. households with guns has declined, but current gun owners are gathering more guns.

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The false perception that there are more gun owners has helped bolster a political narrative, emboldened the National Rifle Association and left politicians worried about losing support, gun policy experts say.

"...It gives them more power to say they are representing more gun owners and there are more gun owners," said Hemenway.

Sugarmann agreed. "There is a myth pushed by the gun industry, the NRA and the trade associations for gun makers that gun ownership is up," he said. "[That] there are more gun owners, when the opposite is true, gun ownership is declining."

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/31/politics/gun-ownership-declining/index.html

Just another example of the distortions promoted by right-wing Second Amendment absolutists in order to sell more guns (to their declining buyer base) and to spread disinformation for marketing and right-wing political purposes. The real fact is that the number of households owning guns has declined from almost 50% in 1973 to just over 32% in 2010.

Each new generation of Americans is learning the truth about the public health menace caused by too many guns in too many hands, and they are taking positive steps to reduce that stockpile.

[Hoyt]

1. Interesting. I believe there should be caps on the number of guns one can own.

And, the cap should be pretty low. No need to flood society with more gunz than necessary.

[SunSeeker]

2. It's basically the gun nuts versus the majority of us. nt

[billh58]

3. Yet, somehow they seem to think

that they are a single issue demographic which represents "most Americans." Nothing could be further from the truth, and is typical of megalomania as exhibited by their representatives who carry AR-15s strapped to their backs into Walgreen's and around schools.