As the gun control debate rages on in Washington, below are 19 facts that help explain how guns factor in to American life.

31: Percentage of American households that reported having a firearm in 2014, the lowest level of reported gun ownership in the last 40 years.

22.4: Percentage of adults in the U.S. who owned a gun as of 2014, up a bit from a record low of 20.6 percent in 2010.

23 million: Number of background checks the FBI conducted in 2015, nearly three times the 8.5 million completed in 2000.

11 million: Number of guns made in the U.S. in 2013, the year after the Sandy Hook massacre. That’s more than twice as many as the 5.4 million firearms produced in 2010.

48: Percentage of Americans who cite protection as the main reason to own a gun, while 32 percent said hunting. In 1999, 49 percent of Americans said hunting was the main reason to own a gun, while just 26 percent said protection.

15: Number of minutes that passed in 2016 before the first shooting of the year occurred — at 12:15 am on Jan. 1, 2016.

39: Percentage by which gun-related homicides dropped between 1993 and 2011.

2.97: Gun homicides per 100,000 people in the U.S. in 2012, compared to 38.97 in Venezuela, 0.51 in Canada, 0.19 in Germany, 0.14 in Australia, 0.07 in England and Wales and 0.06 in France, according to data compiled by The Guardian.

310 million: Number of civilian firearms in the U.S. as of 2009, according to a 2012 Congressional Research Service report. The Washington Post found that if the number were to be updated with data from 2013, there would be more guns than people in the U.S.

1892: Year in which the city of Kennesaw, Ga., passed legislation that requires all of its residents to carry guns. The law is still in effect, though there are a number of loopholes that residents can use to opt out.

60: Percentage of people killed by guns who die by suicide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the second-most common cause of death for Americans between ages 15 and 34. Across all age groups, it ranks as the 10th most common cause of death.

372: Number of mass shootings in the U.S. in 2015, according to data from Mass Shooting Tracker, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which at least four people are killed or wounded. Last year, 475 people were killed and 1,870 were wounded.

80: Percentage of people who carry out mass shootings who are using legally obtained firearms.

27: Number of Americans killed in shooting incidents on Christmas day last year, equal to the total number of people killed in gun homicides in Austria, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Bermuda, Estonia, Iceland and Hong Kong, combined.

16.4: Average number of “active shooting incidents” — individuals killing or trying to kill people in a populated area — per year between 2007 and 2013, up from 6.4 between 2000 and 2007.

47: Percentage of Americans who say they are in favor of stricter gun laws, according to Gallup. This percentage is much lower than the 58 percent of people recorded in 2012 after the school shooting in Newtown, Conn.

85: Percentage of Americans who said they favor expanding background checks for gun buyers, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in July 2015. Both Democrats (88 percent) and Republicans (79 percent) supported the idea.

$17 million: Amount of money the NRA spent on the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.

2,000 – 5,200: Estimated number of gun shows that take place in the U.S. each year.

19.5/1: Ratio of people killed by firearms in the U.S. compared to other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, according to a 2011 UCLA School of Public Health study. For 15-to-24-year-olds, firearm homicide rates are 42.7 times higher in the U.S. than in other OECD countries.

132.1: Rise in stock market value of gun-maker Smith & Wesson throughout 2015. The shares of gun-makers Strum Ruger and Vista also performed extraordinarily well last year, rising 72.1 and 29.9 percent, respectively.

All depends where you found your so called facts and who is reporting so called the facts

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
All depends where you found your so called facts and who is reporting so called the facts

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/...erica-202200815.html

Mike

Personally I wish the NRA would take a proactive position to work with the government to try "something" different. They could have sent a representative last night to be a part of the discussion with Obama, but they didn't. The NRA then gets perceived as do-nothings that expect a different outcome by changing nothing; or simply defending their own financial self-interest. They consistently concede the moral high ground, chant their dogma; and the media, the antis, and the political cartoonists have a field day.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news...litical-cartoons.ece

I would like to see the NRA in a leadership position rather than a roadblock position.

quote:

Originally posted by Kensco:
Personally I wish the NRA would take a proactive position to work with the government to try "something" different. They could have sent a representative last night to be a part of the discussion with Obama, but they didn't. The NRA then gets perceived as do-nothings that expect a different outcome by changing nothing; or simply defending their own financial self-interest. They consistently concede the moral high ground, chant their dogma; and the media, the antis, and the political cartoonists have a field day.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news...litical-cartoons.ece

I would like to see the NRA in a leadership position rather than a roadblock position.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/ri...ies-obama-1452127608

Very interesting in that more than NRA public support it shows what a terribly low opinion we have of governmental and elected entities.

Still the amount of US gun deaths amazes me - 60 percent are suicides and US sucidie rate is not the highest in the world. Leaving 60 percent out we still kill a lot of people with guns. Maybe it is the costs of a heterogeneous society.

http://www.businessinsider.com...cide-rate-map-2014-4

Mike

Depends if you decide to base your opinion on the propaganda of the anti gun media. Hurst and Pulitzer both knew they could control public opinion with their papers. Now you are shown the opinion of print and media owners and told it is how you should think. Various law enforcement stats put 70 to 80% of murders are related to the drug trade. The media would have you believe that murders are either totally random and a result of gun proliferation or committed due to domestic violence. The media also doesn't report that murders are half of the 1994 peak and at the same level as 1964. Both of those facts are contrary to the narrative being presented.

quote:

Originally posted by Sam:
Depends if you decide to base your opinion on the propaganda of the anti gun media. Hurst and Pulitzer both knew they could control public opinion with their papers. Now you are shown the opinion of print and media owners and told it is how you should think. Various law enforcement stats put 70 to 80% of murders are related to the drug trade. The media would have you believe that murders are either totally random and a result of gun proliferation or committed due to domestic violence. The media also doesn't report that murders are half of the 1994 peak and at the same level as 1964. Both of those facts are contrary to the narrative being presented.

39: Percentage by which gun-related homicides dropped between 1993 and 2011.

Leave the opinion polls out. A lot of American still kill each other with guns. Getting less but the number is very big.

I would like a focus on reducing accidental deaths of children by guns found around the house. That is basic gun safety.

Mike

Here's some more numbers for you they will give you a it different perspective,


http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2...l-gun-accidents.html

http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2...ent-comparisons.html

http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2...ren-five-gallon.html

http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2...-fatal-firearms.html

http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2...s-as-deadly-for.html

http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2...-vs-private-gun.html

the first one is just an estimate. How many million people own guns that do not tell pollsters?

And, that does not count the millions of illegal firearms in homes.

quote:

And, that does not count the millions of illegal firearms in homes.

And what's an illegal firearm

Some more gun numbers full article at the link

http://www.gunwatch.blogspot.c...n-to-attack-gun.html

Emotion is the driver of most leftist initiatives, which are highlighted by the generous use of false information and/or exaggeration, and the twisting of truth. Demagoguery and shaming are always close at hand. If someone opposes abortion, they don’t really want to protect life, they just want to deny women control of their bodies. If someone opposes environmental regulations, it’s because they’re greedy corporatists. If someone opposes the ever-expanding welfare state, it just reveals they don’t want to take care of the poor. And, of course, if someone opposes stronger gun control measures, it isn’t because they value and want to defend constitutional liberties, it is because they don’t care that children and other innocents are being murdered daily.

Although this tactic sounds like it was developed on an elementary school playground, a lot of people rely on it and fall for it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01...ts-for-liberals.html

Mike

Interesting factoid:

The bed-wetting libtards are constantly whining about America's high position on the international "gun violence" chart. But, if you remove 5 cities that have been under democratic rule for decades, Chicago, Detroit, st Louis, Cleveland, ??? (I forget), America is very near the bottom.

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
Interesting factoid:

The bed-wetting libtards are constantly whining about America's high position on the international "gun violence" chart. But, if you remove 5 cities that have been under democratic rule for decades, Chicago, Detroit, st Louis, Cleveland, ??? (I forget), America is very near the bottom.

I will bet this is a false fact.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6018a1.htm

http://projects.oregonlive.com...-shooting/gun-deaths

Mike