% Of Homes With Guns Is Dropping

We already know that right after President Obama was elected and took office the gun sales in this country rose sharply. And just this last christmas season, the sale of guns broke new records. As early as 2007 there were approximately 294 million firearms owned by American citizens -- 106 million handguns, 105 million rifles, and 83 million shotguns. That's a ratio of about i gun for every American citizen, and even more when only adults are considered. Figures like that make it sound like America is armed to the teeth.

But it's really not like that at all. While there are a lot of guns owned by civilians in the United States, the number of households with a gun in them had been dropping for over thirty years, and continues to do so. As the chart above shows (from Think Progress), the percentage of households with at least one gun peaked in 1977 at around 54%. It has been dropping since then and currently is about 32% -- a drop of 22%.

One thing that shows attitudes about gun ownership may be changing in America is the age factor. The households of those born before 1959 have the highest percentage of gun ownership (in the  low to mid-forty percent range), and even that has been dropping slightly. But the biggest drop is among young adults (those under 30 years old). Back in the 1970s the households of those under 30 showed about 45% gun ownership. That has now dropped to below 20%.

That speaks well of young people. We already know that the young are much more likely to want equal rights for all their fellow citizens (including minorities and homosexuals), to support government efforts to help the poor and disadvantaged, and to work for a cleaner environment. Now we learn they are far less likely to own a firearm. They may actually turn out to be the best and smartest generation this country has produced.