Not American, but isn’t it also a misconception that most Americans have guns? I thought some Americans have a lot of guns, but most don’t have a gun at all.
I assume Texas is Texas, but I doubt it’s that different.
This is true. There are a lot of guns, but a good chunk of gun owners own more than one firearm so the “average” is skewed. Look at the ones that have massive collections or the preppers for instance. Some owner collections have dozens or even hundreds of firearms.
There’s also the clear assumption the OP photo makes that all of those owners are conservative and willing to fight for Texas. I have quite a few friends with firearms, on both sides of the aisle. In fact, most of the gun owners I know personally are Democrats. None of them would ever do anything to help Texas.
I am pretty hard left. Come from a family that leans to the left. I own probably 30 ish guns. Never bought a single one. Comes from parents, grandparents, great grandparents. Father in law. Everytime a family member passes away I have to buy a bigger gun safe. My side of the family was hunters, wife’s dad was a collector. They were like logos for him, he was always cleaning or fixing up a project gun. That being said, Texas can suck my balls. Just hoping my retarded, conservative, Mexico bordering state doesn’t get involved.
Either way, all these gravy seals can pretend to be tough, but no American is going to shoot another American (on a large scale) over this bs. It’s all politics and bull shit. They talk all tough, but are they willing to shoot at the military people they love so much wearing Kevlar and all the other latest technology with their AR they just got out of pawn over some brown people coming from Mexico? Do they think Joe Biden himself will be on the battle field? No, it will be a bunch of 20 year old American kids they are shooting at.
They went from telling everyone they should “just comply” and hero-worshipping the police to beating and crushing cops on Jan 6. I don’t put anything past the hopefully small number of freaks that will actually show up.
I am a gun owner with more than 5 guns locked away in my basement safe. One of those “these people need protection when escorted to the health clinic because the right wing nut jobs are trying to block access and the pigs won’t do anything about it because some of them joined” kind of people, who will happily use every ounce of legal force I can bear to ensure they aren’t stopped by mouth breathers who don’t understand that they don’t have any rights over a woman’s body.
Of the people I know well enough to know their gun owning status, I’d say less than half own guns. But the half that do almost all own more than one. Mostly in .22LR (small caliber) for “plinking” (shooting small objects/targets for fun at a range or range-like area of your property) but most of the ones that aren’t are for hunting. Maybe 5 or 6 people have an ar-15, and the ones I’ve seen are set up for medium range target shooting.
Now I am certainly biased in who I know, because I do not willingly associate with “peppers” (it’s always guns and cans of beans in a basement, never anything else) or right wing assholes. None of the people I associate with would even strike you as gun owners, because they don’t look the part, don’t drive lifted pickups, don’t wear oakleys/aviators backwards with a punisher skill thin blue line shirt and camo cargo shorts on. (generalization but you know the type)
They’re very much the “those who make peaceful protest impossible make violent revolution inevitable” kind of people.
Now from my younger years, being hauled in to church every week, I’d say it still holds true for that area at that time, under 50% but they own multiples.
So it’s less “everyone owns tons of guns” and more “the under half that own guns own more than 2” I guess.
Yep, it’s much more common than other countries, but gun owners are still in the minority of people, and of the gun owners, many of them only own a pistol (for self defense) or a hunting rifle for hunting, with owning just one pistol being by far the most common.
And like you said, some Americans own a LOT of guns. Those people tend to view guns as something to collect, or as a status symbol, some even have dozens of different guns they never even use or maintain, but just hoard. They tend to skew the average number to be higher.
(Also not American) The numbers in this tweet, if correct, would imply that ~80% of Americans don’t own a firearm. If memory serves there’s a slightly over 1:1 ratio between registered firearms and American citizens so that would suggest an average of 5 guns per owner.
That’s from 2017, before COVID and trump really amping shit to the max. That 33% thinking about getting a firearm, many of them have. I’d say we’re probably around %45 at this point. Many on the left have armed themselves since trump and COVID.
A Firearms Transaction Record, or ATF Form 4473, is a seven-page form prescribed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) required to be completed when a person proposes to purchase a firearm from a Federal Firearms License (FFL) holder, such as a gun dealer.[1]
Form 4473 contains the purchaser’s name, address, date of birth, government-issued photo ID, National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) background check transaction number, and a short affidavit stating that the purchaser is eligible to purchase firearms under federal law.
The firearm dealer is required to record some information from the Form 4473 into a “bound-book”, called an "Acquisition and Disposition Log”.[6] The dealer must keep the Form 4473 on file for the lifetime of the FFL, and is required to surrender the log book to the ATF upon retirement from the firearms business.
The ATF is allowed to inspect, as well as request a copy of, the Form 4473 from the dealer during the course of a criminal investigation. In addition, the sale of two or more handguns to a person in a five-day period must be reported to the ATF on Form 3310.4.
ATF form 4473 is de-facto registration of every legally owned gun in the United States of America
I really like the guitar analogy. Most people don’t own a guitar, most people who do own a guitar only own one, and most people who own more than one own a lot of guitars.
Depends on the area.
Rural means guns to deal with vermin or wildlife.
Urban poor means illegal guns in bulk.
Urban middle-class, if there still is one, means self-defense as desired.
Urban high class means private security, personal gun optional.
Then you have your gangs, cartels, cults, communes, independent secessionists, hobby hunters, gun lovers and political party zealots - in no particular order or affiliation.
Mix in some mass media fear mongering and everyone is suddenly armed to the teeth, willingly or not.
Not American, but isn’t it also a misconception that most Americans have guns? I thought some Americans have a lot of guns, but most don’t have a gun at all.
I assume Texas is Texas, but I doubt it’s that different.
This is true. There are a lot of guns, but a good chunk of gun owners own more than one firearm so the “average” is skewed. Look at the ones that have massive collections or the preppers for instance. Some owner collections have dozens or even hundreds of firearms.
There’s also the clear assumption the OP photo makes that all of those owners are conservative and willing to fight for Texas. I have quite a few friends with firearms, on both sides of the aisle. In fact, most of the gun owners I know personally are Democrats. None of them would ever do anything to help Texas.
I am pretty hard left. Come from a family that leans to the left. I own probably 30 ish guns. Never bought a single one. Comes from parents, grandparents, great grandparents. Father in law. Everytime a family member passes away I have to buy a bigger gun safe. My side of the family was hunters, wife’s dad was a collector. They were like logos for him, he was always cleaning or fixing up a project gun. That being said, Texas can suck my balls. Just hoping my retarded, conservative, Mexico bordering state doesn’t get involved.
Either way, all these gravy seals can pretend to be tough, but no American is going to shoot another American (on a large scale) over this bs. It’s all politics and bull shit. They talk all tough, but are they willing to shoot at the military people they love so much wearing Kevlar and all the other latest technology with their AR they just got out of pawn over some brown people coming from Mexico? Do they think Joe Biden himself will be on the battle field? No, it will be a bunch of 20 year old American kids they are shooting at.
They went from telling everyone they should “just comply” and hero-worshipping the police to beating and crushing cops on Jan 6. I don’t put anything past the hopefully small number of freaks that will actually show up.
I’m far left and my SO and I own 8 guns of various types, including an assault rifle and a short barel tactical shotgun.
I’m medium left and have a handful of firearms. No assault rifle here, but my gas operated shotgun is pretty cool. All my rifles are bolt action.
You are basically spot on.
I am a gun owner with more than 5 guns locked away in my basement safe. One of those “these people need protection when escorted to the health clinic because the right wing nut jobs are trying to block access and the pigs won’t do anything about it because some of them joined” kind of people, who will happily use every ounce of legal force I can bear to ensure they aren’t stopped by mouth breathers who don’t understand that they don’t have any rights over a woman’s body.
Of the people I know well enough to know their gun owning status, I’d say less than half own guns. But the half that do almost all own more than one. Mostly in .22LR (small caliber) for “plinking” (shooting small objects/targets for fun at a range or range-like area of your property) but most of the ones that aren’t are for hunting. Maybe 5 or 6 people have an ar-15, and the ones I’ve seen are set up for medium range target shooting.
Now I am certainly biased in who I know, because I do not willingly associate with “peppers” (it’s always guns and cans of beans in a basement, never anything else) or right wing assholes. None of the people I associate with would even strike you as gun owners, because they don’t look the part, don’t drive lifted pickups, don’t wear oakleys/aviators backwards with a punisher skill thin blue line shirt and camo cargo shorts on. (generalization but you know the type)
They’re very much the “those who make peaceful protest impossible make violent revolution inevitable” kind of people.
Now from my younger years, being hauled in to church every week, I’d say it still holds true for that area at that time, under 50% but they own multiples.
So it’s less “everyone owns tons of guns” and more “the under half that own guns own more than 2” I guess.
42% of households have at least 1 gun. Actually looked this up recently.
And that’s nationwide. Texas is slightly less than that.
Yep, it’s much more common than other countries, but gun owners are still in the minority of people, and of the gun owners, many of them only own a pistol (for self defense) or a hunting rifle for hunting, with owning just one pistol being by far the most common.
And like you said, some Americans own a LOT of guns. Those people tend to view guns as something to collect, or as a status symbol, some even have dozens of different guns they never even use or maintain, but just hoard. They tend to skew the average number to be higher.
I mean, some Americans have RPGs and historical cannons and swords and bows instead of guns
Yup, Pew Research says that only 32% of Americans own a gun.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/13/key-facts-about-americans-and-guns/#:~:text=About a third of adults,else in their household does.
(Also not American) The numbers in this tweet, if correct, would imply that ~80% of Americans don’t own a firearm. If memory serves there’s a slightly over 1:1 ratio between registered firearms and American citizens so that would suggest an average of 5 guns per owner.
Only HI requires firearms to be registered in the USA.
And the last research on it, it’s around 1/3 of the population.
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/06/22/the-demographics-of-gun-ownership/
That’s from 2017, before COVID and trump really amping shit to the max. That 33% thinking about getting a firearm, many of them have. I’d say we’re probably around %45 at this point. Many on the left have armed themselves since trump and COVID.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_4473
ATF form 4473 is de-facto registration of every legally owned gun in the United States of America
While I agree that, that form is supposed to be destroyed after running it. It’s not a registery…even if the ATF is trying to use it like one.
I really like the guitar analogy. Most people don’t own a guitar, most people who do own a guitar only own one, and most people who own more than one own a lot of guitars.
I left guns behind along with my childhood.
Depends on the area.
Rural means guns to deal with vermin or wildlife.
Urban poor means illegal guns in bulk.
Urban middle-class, if there still is one, means self-defense as desired.
Urban high class means private security, personal gun optional.
Then you have your gangs, cartels, cults, communes, independent secessionists, hobby hunters, gun lovers and political party zealots - in no particular order or affiliation.
Mix in some mass media fear mongering and everyone is suddenly armed to the teeth, willingly or not.
So to answer your question, I have no idea.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/map-gun-death-rates-lower-cities-than-rural-counties-rcna81462