On Fri, 24 Jul 2015 23:32:00 -0400, Joe Gwinn
wrote:

Mr. Ed said:
All in all, combined with the fact that we know we have over 14
million fewer hunters than we would have if the percentages hadn't
changed since 1960, it all points to the idea that we have fewer gun
owners with more guns. You can pick at the statistics but at some
point you have to come down somewhere, and the evidence comes down on
the side of the idea there are fewer gun owners.

I have no opinion on the truth of this claim.

Fewer gun owners? This I doubt. I've talked to several of my old
friends recently and found that they either got CCWs or new handguns
recently. The reasons given: they saw data on the sparse ratio of
cops to people, media fear-mongering (despite the dropping crime
rate), fear of gun sale bans, etc.


But even if it is true, is it important? We still have no shortage of
guns. And tens of millions of new guns are sold every year.

But as I said before, it is unclear what difference it makes if there
are 400 million guns, or merely 200 million, rising or falling. It's
still of order one gun per person (every man, woman, and child), and
will remain so for the foreseeable future.

And, just as they undercount illegal aliens, I'm sure they miss lots
of guns and gun owners in their hunts.


Hmm. Assume that we have only 200 million guns. The FBI reports that
20 million guns were sold in 2014, or 10%. It seems quite unlikely
that 10% of the gun inventory was melted down or otherwise lost in that
year, so the growth rate is about 10% per year, and it won't be long
before 400 million is surpassed.

.https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/reports

Ayup.


From my own experience, it agrees with what I've seen over my
lifetime. But I'm not counting on anecdotal experience to draw a
conclusion.

Well, yes. But we do need better-designed studies. But there are
questions that cannot be answered by polling, and we will just have to
live with that.

Agreed. Polls can be counted on to give some semblance of the truth,
not the whole truth, EVER.

If Ed ever gives up his hard-on against the NRA, he may see that.

--
My desire to be well-informed is currently
at odds with my desire to remain sane. --Sipkess