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Introductory Notes
This research is based upon the most recent available data in 2016. Facts from earlier years are cited based upon availability and relevance, not to slant results by singling out specific years that are different from others. Likewise, data associated with the effects of gun control laws in various geographical areas represent random, demographically diverse places in which such data is available.
Many aspects of the gun control issue are best measured and sometimes can only be measured through surveys,[1]*but the accuracy of such surveys depends upon respondents providing truthful answers to questions that are sometimes controversial and potentially incriminating.[2]*Thus, Just Facts uses this data critically, citing the best-designed surveys we find, detailing their inner workings in our footnotes, and using the most cautious plausible interpretations of the results.
Particularly, when statistics are involved, the determination of what constitutes a credible fact (and what does not) can contain elements of personal subjectivity. It is our mission to minimize subjective information and to provide highly factual content. Therefore, we are taking the additional step of providing readers with*four examples*to illustrate the type of material that was excluded because it did not meet Just Facts’*Standards of Credibility.
Definitions
* Firearms are generally classified into three broad types: (1) handguns, (2) rifles, and (3) shotguns.[3]*Rifles and shotguns are both considered “long guns.”
* A semi-automatic firearm fires one bullet each time the trigger is pulled, ejects the shell of the fired bullet, and automatically loads another bullet for the next pull of the trigger. A fully automatic firearm fires multiple bullets with the single pull of the trigger.[4]*[5]
Ownership
* The United States had a population of 319 million people in 2014.[6]
* Roughly 371 million firearms were owned by U.S. civilians and domestic law enforcement in 2014. Of these, about 146 million or 39% were handguns.[7]
* Civilians accounted for 80% of non-military gun industry revenues in 2012.[8]
* Handguns comprised 52% of all new guns sold to civilians and law enforcement in 2014, as compared to 35% in 2000.[9]
* Based upon national surveys, the following are estimates of private firearm ownership in the U.S. as of 2016:
Households With a Gun
Adults Owning a Gun
Portion
36% – 49%
23% – 36%
[10]*[11]*[12]
* Gallup polls conducted from 2007 to 2012 found the following levels of self-declared gun ownership among different groups of people:
Group
Portion Owning a Firearm
Male
45%
Female
15%
White
33%
Nonwhite
22%
Republican
38%
Independent
31%
Democrat
22%
[13]*[14]*[15]
* In a 2013 Gallup poll, gun owners stated they own firearms for the following reasons:
Reason
Portion
Protection Against Crime
60%
Hunting
36%
Recreation/Target Shooting
21%
[16]
Crime and Self-Defense
* Roughly 16,459 murders were committed in the United States during 2016. Of these, about 11,961 or 73% were committed with firearms.[17]*[18]
* A 1993 nationwide survey of 4,977 households found that over the previous five years, at least 0.5% of households had members who had used a gun for defense during a situation in which they thought someone “almost certainly would have been killed” if they “had not used a gun for protection.” This amounted to 162,000 such incidents per year. This excludes all “military service, police work, or work as a security guard.”[19]
* Based on survey data from the U.S. Department of Justice, roughly 5.9 million violent crimes were committed in the United States during 2014.[20][21]*These include simple/aggravated assaults, robberies, sexual assaults, rapes, and murders.[22]*Of these, about 600,000 or 10% were committed by offenders visibly armed with a gun.[23]
* Based on survey data from a 2000 study published in the*Journal of Quantitative Criminology,[24]*U.S. civilians use guns to defend themselves and others from crime at least 989,883 times per year.[25]
* A 1993 nationwide survey of 4,977 households found that over the previous five years, at least 3.5% of households had members who had used a gun “for self-protection or for the protection of property at home, work, or elsewhere.” This amounted to 1,029,615 such incidents per year. This excludes all “military service, police work, or work as a security guard.”[26]
* A 1994 survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Americans use guns to frighten away intruders who are breaking into their homes about 498,000 times per year.[27]
* A 1982 survey of male felons in 11 state prisons across the U.S. found:
34% had been “scared off, shot at, wounded, or captured by an armed victim.”40% had decided not to commit a crime because they “knew or believed that the victim was carrying a gun.”69% personally knew other criminals who had been “scared off, shot at, wounded, or captured by an armed victim.”[28]
Also:
https://www.safehome.org/resources/gun-laws-and-deaths/
