Gun Country

The pro-gun rally held in Richmond, Virginia, ended peacefully this past Monday, as protesters gathered to voice their discontent with proposed firearm restrictions in the state. Many gun-rights advocates brought their own pistols and rifles to the protest, a fact which highlights just how many guns there are in the United States.

According to the 2018 Small Arms Survey, the U.S. has an estimated 393 million firearms in the country. With a population of roughly 329 million, that means there’s around 120 firearms per 100 people – nearly double the second-highest country in the world for firearms per capita. The U.S. also has over five times the total number of firearms than the second-highest country, India, which has a population of 1.36 billion but only an estimated 71 million firearms.

Still, according to Gallup, less than 40 percent of all households in the U.S. report to owning one or more firearms, highlighting the fact that many gun owners in the country own multiple firearms. A Pew Research Center study in 2017 showed that 29 percent of all gun owners owned more than five guns, with 66 percent reporting they owned two or more.