Which States Actually Have The Most Gun Owners?

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Have you ever wondered which states have the most gun owners, which states have the most people who are armed? Apparently, Columbia University wanted to know this information, too.

Pew Research indicates that roughly 3 in 10 Americans say that they are gun owners, but it’s logical, with all of the differing gun laws from state to state and city to city, that this isn’t spread evenly across the U.S., so some researchers wanted to find out more about the distribution of gun ownership among the states. Morgane Croissant writes about Columbia University’s research,

Business Insider used the result of a study published in 2015 in the journal Injury Prevention by researchers Bindu Kalesan, Marcos Villarreal, and Katherine Keyes of Columbia University, and Sandro Galea of Boston University to [compile data about] where people own the most guns in the US.

Some results are unexpected. Despite neighboring one of the states with the highest number of gun owners (Wyoming with 53.8% of its population), only 19.8% of Nebraskans own guns. Also, Texans, often depicted as trigger-happy people, are below the 50% mark (37.5% to be exact), way behind Hawaii where 45.1% of the population owns guns — Who’d a thunk it? Unsurprisingly, Alaska is leading the nation with 61.7% of its population owning guns.

Some statistics, however, won’t be surprising. Traditionally Southern states such as Alabama, Arkansas, and South Carolina, along with more rural states such as Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, have much higher percentages of gun ownership than New England states, mid-Atlantic states, and the West Coast, which all have very small percentages, relatively speaking, of their population that are gun owners.

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What do these statistics reveal? Maybe nothing more than that states with fewer large cities tend to have a higher percentage of their population who are gun owners. Maybe nothing else. But maybe this disparity of population to gun ownership proportion is an indication of more of what could drive this disparity.

Does it indicate that more of the population of cities don’t want to take personal responsibility for their own safety? I can’t say, but I can say that you may want to move to a state with fewer large cities if you want to be among a more gun friendly population.

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32 COMMENTS

    • I will never go to Colorado ever again elk hunting. With all the dopers they have there now.

  1. As with any statistical presentation, nothing is provided to determine the source of the information.
    Also, is it believed that a relatively small number of people own a lot of firearms?
    Or, is there any information that indicates, on average, how many guns individual owners actually possess.
    Is there any breakdown as to how many handguns are owned in comparison with long guns such as rifles and/or shotguns.
    Is the inventory level of gun shops, dealers, pawn shops etc. included somehow in the statistics?

  2. What is your point? Guns are here to stay and no matter how the left wing Socialistic, communistic mind set continue the agenda to rid us of our second Amendment the stronger we get

    • It’s God giving right to bear arms of any kind and any size we have the God giving right to protect one self and others at that, guns don’t kill and sticks don’t kill or rocks people kill and animals kill eithet with steel or your hands. When evil and the wicked are cleansed from off the earth and Jesus Christ returns and tell his elect to destroy all weapons then I will comply and do so. Rights comes from God not governments… Democratic socialialic Nazi like party needs to move their ass’s to North Korea or China America has enough of their b/s criminal crimes against the United States constitution death to the democratic party in America.

  3. I am for the 2nd amendment and it is our right to have and bear arms. It would be too easy for the wrong regime to get in power, i.e., another Muslim like Obama to get in office and try to force us to conform to their wants and needs or else. NO THANKS!!! I will die defending the constitution and the American way of life. DE OPPRESSO LIBER

  4. I was somewhat surprised that my home state of Texas had only 37% of the population owning guns. I would never move to a state that had unreasonable gun laws that place sanctions on gun ownership and ignorance of the 2nd amendment. We as a people have a God given right and obligation to protect ourselves and our families and I for one will take advantage of it. I would hate to have to use that right but make no mistake most people with my conservative ideology would not hesitate to do so.

    • Absolutely right, Oldwestman. When anyone else knows you have a weapon, you become a target for dictatorial government who would love nothing more than to confiscate your weapon. You become a target for anyone who wants to steal a firearm to support their criminal lifestyle or their drug habit.

  5. I do not think the numbers are correct – I know a great deal of folks would not advertise that they had a weapon. Legal and illegal owners

  6. It is no body’s business who owns guns and how doesn’t. If that bad guys knew you didn’t you might be next on their list of homes to rob. If you tell everyone you have guns they will want to steal them from you when you are gone? It is our right and no body’s business!

    • @Lance,You’re spot on right ! Open carry is legal in Texas but why advertise ? I only open carry at the deer lease !

  7. WELL I KNOW FOR SURE IN NYC ONLY THE COPS AND CRIMINALS HAVE GUNS! GOD FORBID IF A GOOD CITIZEN OWN ONE, YOU STILL GO TO JAIL EVEN IF YOU DIDN’T COMMIT A CRIME. SO MUCH FOR YOUR 2nd AMENDMENT……

  8. they use to ask me if I owned guns when I went for a doctors visit at the va. hospital and if I was mad or upset. I use to tell them it was none of their business and them asking me stupid friking made me mad, and then they sent me a letter wanting to know how many gun locks I needed. How sneaky can you get, tore up the letter of course.

  9. I never discuss my firearms with people I don’t know or even some I do know. Silence on this subject really is golden.

  10. I don’t believe that stat about Texas for a second ! Texas leads the country in legal firearm ownership and I can prove that as fact !

  11. The real danger of gun control is to take away the question of “does an intended victim own a gun.” Also, gun control demands everyone assume the possibility of becoming a victim just to be politically correct.

  12. In NYC only criminals have guns. This was planed in 1911 by gangster pimp NYS senator Timothy Sullivan.

  13. No one lives in rural states. If you count actual wepons per state the results would be very differant.

    • Agreed; as a native Vermonter, I remember reading that there are roughly 6 firearms per person in VT, ME, NH.

      • If I only owned six firearms, I would consider myself unarmed! One needs at least six shotguns alone to meet the needs to survive.

  14. Although my state is one of the high number of gun owners, almost everyone I know has at least one gun, and knows how and when to use it. Many of these gun owners do not advertise the fact that they have them.

  15. I agree that gun owners aren’t necessarily going to brag about owning guns. Gun owners usually know friends and yes talk about guns and what they have, bought or carry but don’t tell people out of the blue, hey I own guns do you? As for the govt it’s not there business. However in CA when you buy they register them so yes they’ll know who owns guns and how many unless you inherit them or get them at a show out of state or even illegally which I personally don’t condone. Especially if you’re a legal permit carrying gun owner why put yourself at risk of losing your right and privilege. That Alaska rate seems low since on a show I watch the sheriff said its about 85%if not more households own guns. I know plenty of friends and even family members that have what some would consider An arsenal but yet all legal and undocumented. This study does show at least that there’s plenty of reason to keep guns legal as there’s a lot of legal gun owners and act responsibly with them. This is a never ending fight because the left think every person should live there way and pinky way which I find repulsive and I dont want to be told how to live everyday of my life and how to do it. There’s to many laws to follow as it is now.

  16. I agree with you and our forefathers could see that without our constitution the government people like the left that want your guns know without guns they can controll you because you can’t defend yourself or our constitution

  17. Cities where you really need protection have restrictive laws and only criminals and law enforcement have guns !!! Most gun grabbers don’t have a clue what our second amendment means, they don’t know that also protects us from our own government and has nothing to do with hunting. One person wrote in that we should join the National Guard, don’t they know that’s totally controlled by government. I’m not against our government but it helps to keep them in check !!!

  18. Just an FYI, the states that have more more gun owners have the fewest crimes gun or otherwise. The states on the other hand, that have the fewest guns or highest gun laws have much higher crime rates and extremely high murder rates. Like I said just an FYI.

  19. NOTHING MORE TO SAID WE HAVE A FREE COUNTRY WITH A CONSTITUTION THAT SHOULD BE HONOR AND RESPECT THE ONLY CHANGE THAT WE NEED TO MAKE IS TO GET RID OF OLD THE COMMUNIST LAW MAKERS THAT UNFORTUNATELY WE HAVE TRYING TO DESTROY THE BEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD GOD BLESS AMERICA AND ALL MEMBERS OF OUR ARMED FORCES

    • In Alabama we are above the 50% mark most everyone i know has several, but in the big cities there is still a lot of crime mostly related to drugs,me i think every house should have a firearm in it and everyone should know how to use it and be safe with it

  20. Years ago, a LEO told me not to let anyone know I had a color TV, expensive stereo, firearms, or drugs in my home. Now that all TVs are color and you can get clean music from a much cheaper system, I might change that to huge flat screen and replace stereo with a hot gamer computer system. But drugs and guns are still on the list.
    There are druggies that will find out about cancer patients and break in to their house to look for meds(just try to replace stolen meds). I would imagine that people that owned guns could be a target, but only when no one is home. don’t be stupid, tell your kids not to brag about dad’s firearms.

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