Interesting Gun Ownership Article

I have to wonder if that article is designed to make the non gun owning public fear us.
AND the gunman (Esteban Santiago ) that killed 5 people at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood international airport
only owned one gun. What does that tell you?

One of the baseline numbers to even calculate what is the threshold for being a super owner is how many guns are out there. As noted it's up in the air. Some analysis I have read (and IIRC posted a link at weaponsman) was that the 300 million guns basically ignores about half of them. It's far more likely to exceed 500 million - which should point out the futility of any registration or confiscation schemes. They just aren't going to happen. NY and CA ARE very much the quiet tip of the spear in civil disobedience there - it's estimated (again, they can't know) that 75% of the evil assault rifles remain unregistered.

If they can't know where all the guns are and who owns them, then the super owner won't be identifiable until they fly across the sky saving victims and shooting perps - or something like that. Which is how to handle their description - with ridicule. Even the mainstream media is prone to it - we hear press statements issued about "Russian hacking" but I'm reading more punch lines to jokes and cartoons as "Darn Russian Hacking." It's getting blamed for anything and everything. Do the same with super owners - next time your liberal buddies mention it ask what color tights those people are wearing.

Like they would even know.

No capes!

I can honestly say I have no idea how many guns I own; can pass a lie detector to that effect. The reason is I have steadfastly refused to count them, and even configured my insurance-tracking spreadsheet in a manner that makes it difficult to count them.

Why? So whenever questioned about how many guns I own, I can honestly say I have no idea, since it's nobody's damned business....


Larry

DT Guy said:

Why? So whenever questioned about how many guns I own, I can honestly say I have no idea, since it's nobody's damned business....

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That ... is a Silly statement.

larryh1108 said:

According to you, the typical gun-owning household is now a super owner (see actual quote below). That's not accurate. Reading is fundamental. So is interpretation. However, the linked sites in the article also offer their own interpretation. I'll stand by my comment of the average super owner owning 17 or more as my interpretation. YMMV

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Let's go back to the original article where the term super owner came up.

https://www.thetrace.org/2016/09/gun-super-owners-harvard-survey/

It's right there. Super Owner starts at 8.

That top 14 percent of gun owners — a group of 7.7 million people, or 3 percent of American adults — own between about eight and 140 guns each. The average is 17.

I can read, I also have a memory.

GBExpat said:

That ... is a Silly statement.

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Perhaps-but I'm sometimes asked, and occasionally by sheeple, how many guns I own. As my personal choice is to avoid a lie under nearly all circumstances, and to be polite when possible, it's easier to say, "You know, I never counted them" than, "Piss off, it's none of your business."

But feel free to consider it 'silly'; I've been called worse.


Larry

DT Guy said:

As my personal choice is to avoid a lie under nearly all circumstances, and to be polite when possible, it's easier to say, "You know, I never counted them" than, "Piss off, it's none of your business."

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Wow. And here I thought that you had simply not carefully read what you wrote.

You refuse to count your firearms because someone may ask how many you have and you will feel compelled to disclose the number ... or lie ... or be impolite.

That is truly Silly.

You are aware that you are not required to disclose the number to anyone who asks, yes? ... and it is possible to accomplish that without telling them either a lie or something rude like, "Piss off"?

How'bout something like, "<shrug & smile> I have a few." ... at which point, if they try to press you for an answer they are the ones being impolite.

GBExpat said:

Wow. And here I thought that you had simply not carefully read what you wrote.

You refuse to count your firearms because someone may ask how many you have and you will feel compelled to disclose the number ... or lie ... or be impolite.

That is truly Silly.

You are aware that you are not required to disclose the number to anyone who asks, yes? ... and it is possible to accomplish that without telling them either a lie or something rude like, "Piss off"?

How'bout something like, "<shrug & smile> I have a few." ... at which point, if they try to press you for an answer they are the ones being impolite.

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So...are you married?


Larry

DT Guy said:

So...are you married?

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ROTFLMAO!!! Now I understand!

Targeted Ignorance ... the married man's 1st line of defense.

I have over 70 guns. What does that make me? If gun owners were cars would I be a Bugatti Veron?

Sheesh! What a bunch of pikers!
I've got more Full autos & mortars than the prefessed 17 for a super gun owner! Then there are the 65+ K98k Mausers and the 70+ P.38s. That only leaves all of the many other types I've got like 15 G/K 43s. And Garands, Carbines & the list goes on and on!!!
Sarge

Sarge said:

Sheesh! What a bunch of pikers!
I've got more Full autos & mortars than the prefessed 17 for a super gun owner! Then there are the 65+ K98k Mausers and the 70+ P.38s. That only leaves all of the many other types I've got like 15 G/K 43s. And Garands, Carbines & the list goes on and on!!!
Sarge

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Super Owner starts at 8 guns. 17 is AVERAGE for a super owner.

tark said:

If gun owners were cars would I be a Bugatti Veron?

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You'd be this car (the RV is for carrying all the guns).

We're all suitably impressed sarge. Go back into your bunker.

He's just jealous he didn't get all the K31's, is all

Can someone explain to me how gun owners are all barefoot hicks in cheap rural areas, when gun ownership (i.e. luxury items) is concentrating so rapidly among a supposedly dwindling population, and correlates strongly with income & net worth? I get the impression their stereotypes are getting confused, and need recalibration (beards, rails, elaborate muzzle devices, and twelve of the same stupid rifle paid for on credit is where I'd start )

TCB

PS: is that RV giving birth to a Mercedes?

Walkalong said:

Plausible deniability.

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Gotta love it!
When I'm asked by folks, gun owners or not, how many I own, I smile and answer "a couple". Those that have been to the range with me, will realize that "a couple" doesn't mean two by any stretch of the imagination. Those few friends that have been to my house know that "a couple" might mean two safes. When pressed, I may say "a couple may mean 2 or more".
Only one or two good friends know the real number, or rather close to it, as changes do occur. Just sold a shotgun and have a Carcano on the way. My wife knew the number at one time, but she really doesn't care, so doesn't ask. She's, unfortunately, not into guns at all.

One reason I don't divulge the number, aside from it's really no one's business, is that most folks will fixate on a number and get wrapped up in the inevitable - "why so many?" discussion. This could be at the "super owner" level of 8, or the average of 17, or Sarge's mortar count.

BTW Sarge, I'm available for adoption. I can bring some of my own toys.

.308 Norma;

I've got a question for you. How long has it been since campus carry was legalized in Idaho? Part B of the question: How many on campus shootings have there been since it's been legal? Very few, if any, I suspect. I'm certain I would have heard about it had any occurred as I live in Montana & the press here would have trumpeted the news with maximum amplification had it happened. The media here left no doubts as to their position on that subject when it was raised in this state.

Does Wyoming allow on campus carry? I'd be surprised if they didn't. Of course I remember shooting tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of rounds in the high school range at NCHS. Nobody got hurt & not a single faint heart suffered an attack either.

900F

larryh1108 said:

I see "a couple" to mean a couple of hundred...

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Yeah, that sounds good, but that's not it... hmmm something to strive for...

Sometimes I get a couple dozen? as a response.

Again, I just smile and leave it at that.

I remember when this super owner discussion started up a few months ago. There was some radio and TV news shows coverage on it. A few friends and I discussed it in light of, as mentioned above, the point that no one does know the actual number of guns or owners in the US. There are some owners that we may know that might fit into this new label. Whether we choose to brand ourselves, or not, is up to us.
I think it's similar to the "Assault Weapon" moniker. Make up a name, imbue it with negative connotations, use it, get it to stick and it may serve to further alienate or subdivide us into the fringe.

I've always found "a bunch" to be fewer than I expected (like 2 or 3 guns) when the topic comes up.

TCB

I was thinking the same thing re campus carry. How long has it been in effect, and what, if any incidents have come up?
Florida has been trying to get it passed, but it's meeting some resistance, obviously from the politicos and the ivory tower types.
I've "educated" a couple of friends, college faculty and administrator, who happen to own guns and shoot, that campus carry wouldn't make them any less safe from a wacko student, but might instead enable them to legally protect themselves in what I impolitely refer to as a target rich environment.