Despite protests and student walkouts for gun control bombarding the mainstream media, Americans who believe in gun rights and exercise their right to bear arms are alive and well, with 42 percent of households in the United States owning at least one gun last year.
In fact, Pew Social Trends reported that three out of 10 adults in the U.S. owned a firearm last year, and trends show that residents in some states are more likely to believe in the Second Amendment than others.
Don’t mess with Texas … and especially Wyoming
Even though the Lone Star State does not lead the U.S. in per-capita gun ownership – ranking in at number 18 – it leads the country when it comes the number of those owning guns, with Texas’ 28 million residents registering 588,696 guns … meaning that 1 out of every 47 Texans owns a gun, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
On the other hand, AFT found that California – with approximately 10 million more residents than Texas – comes in at No. 2 in sheer quantity with 344,622 guns, followed by Florida at No. 3 (343,288), Virginia at No. 4 (307,822), Pennsylvania at No. 5 (236,377), Georgia at No. 6 (190,050), Arizona at No. 7 (179,738), Ohio at No. 8 (173,405), Alabama at No. 9 (161,641) and North Carolina at No. 10 (153,238).
But when it comes to the highest concentration of Americans who assert their right to protect themselves and not rely on the police, the real Cowboys don’t come from Dallas, Texas, but from Wyoming, where the most people per capita own guns in the U.S.
“Wyoming has 229 guns for every thousand residents,” HuntingMark.com reported from ATF’s 2017 statistics. “That’s 132,806 registered weapons in a state that has only 579,315 people.”
Here is ATF’s ranking of the top 10 gun ownership states per capita – states where criminals would be wise to think twice before holding up an establishment: 1.) Wyoming, 2.) Washington, D.C., 3.) New Hampshire, 4.) New Mexico, 5.) Virginia, 6.) Alabama, 7.) Idaho, 8.) Arkansas, 9.) Nevada, 10.) Arizona.
Not surprisingly, blue states predominantly populate the bottom 10 gun ownership states when it comes to per capita: 51.) New York (3.8 guns per every 1,000 residents), 50.) Rhode Island, 49.) Delaware, 48.) Massachusetts, 47.) Hawaii, 46.) New Jersey, 45.) Michigan, 44.) California, 43.) Iowa and 42.) Vermont.
Guns … a political and cultural phenomenon
But even though liberal Democrats claim they stand for freedom, that freedom for them does not extend to their ability to protect themselves – as conservative Republicans are the ones who relish their freedom to bear arms.
“There are also significant differences across parties, with Republican and Republican-leaning independents more than twice as likely as Democrats and those who lean Democratic to say they own a gun (44 percent vs. 20 percent),” Pew Research reported last June.
As opposed to the politically correct mantra being disseminated not only by media, but by schools and the entertainment industry, the common consensus in the U.S. is that gun ownership is healthy, empowering and a cultural symbol of pride – and what it is to be an American.
“It’s a fact: Americans love guns,” WND reported. “They’re as American as apple pie, baseball, pickup trucks and bland beer.”
Gun ownership in the U.S. is not only commonplace more than anywhere else in the world – it is desired by a large majority of Americans.
“In fact, civilians in America own nearly half (48 percent) of all the guns in the world,” WND noted. “Among Americans who don’t have a gun, approximately half say they may own one in the future.”
It should be noted that lawmakers are great determiners of whether or not a state’s residents own guns.
“New York has embarked on a fanatical streak of gun laws that most likely would lower gun ownership throughout the state,” HuntingMark.com’s Jake Edwards stressed. “Meanwhile, the great American West is the land of the pew pew pew and the citizens of Wyoming have little restrictions. Statistical analysis: when Americans are allowed to have guns, they get them. Freedom anyone?”
Who’s packing?
A person’s sex and place of residence – city or country – has a lot to do with whether or not he or she owns a gun.
“[A]bout four in 10 men (39 percent) say they personally own a gun, compared with 22 percent of women.,” Pew divulged. “Among those who live in rural areas, 46 percent say they are gun owners, compared with 28 percent of those who live in the suburbs and 19 percent in urban areas.”
Along with sex, race also appears to be a factor in gun ownership.
“And while 36 percent of whites report that they are gun owners, about a quarter of blacks (24 percent) and 15 percent of Hispanics say they own a gun,” Pew researchers continued. “White men are especially likely to be gun owners: About half (48 percent) say they own a gun, compared with about a quarter of white women and nonwhite men (24 percent each) and 16% of nonwhite women.”
For the most part, the longer Americans are subjected to politically correct campus politics, the less likely they are to carry a gun.
“Like the gender gap, the education gap in gun ownership is particularly pronounced among whites,” Pew pointed out. “Overall, about three in 10 adults with a high school diploma or less (31 percent) and 34 percent of those with some college education say they own a gun; a quarter of those with a bachelor’s degree or more say the same. Among whites, about four In 10 of those with a high school diploma or less (40 percent) or with some college (42 percent) are gun owners, compared with roughly a quarter of white college graduates (26 percent).”
And the region of one’s residence in the U.S. also plays a factor in gun ownership, as residents in the predominantly blue New England states are about half as likely to own guns than those in the rest of the country, while those in the mostly red Bible Belt are the most likely to be packing heat.
“Regionally, Northeasterners stand out as the least likely to own guns: 16 percent of adults who live in the Northeast say they own a gun, about half the share who say this in the South (36 percent), Midwest (32 percent) and West (31 percent),” Pew explained.
Why own a firearm?
Americans give a number of reasons as to why they own guns, but one trumps them all.
“[P]rotection tops the list, with 67 percent of current gun owners saying this is a major reason they personally own a gun,” the research group found. “About four in 10 say the same about hunting (38 percent), while three in 10 say sport shooting, including target, trap and skeet shooting is a major reason they own a gun. Fewer cite a gun collection (13 percent) or their job (8 percent) as major reasons for owning a gun.”
Most owners of firearms have them for different purposes.
“Two-thirds of gun owners say they own more than one gun, including 29 percent who own five or more guns,” the Pew report divulged. “About seven in 10 say they own a handgun or pistol (72 percent), while 62 percent own a rifle and 54 percent own a shotgun. Among those who own a single gun, most (62 percent) say that gun is a handgun or pistol, while far fewer say they own a rifle (22 percent) or a shotgun (16 percent).”
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