Not sure why the redundant thread was closed & not merged, but whatever...
Considering 1% of the US controls half its wealth (or something like that), I'd say we gun owners are an incredibly egalitarian lot.
While a *shocking* number, it's neither surprising nor outrageous. Unsurprisingly, guns cost money, so those with money are able to spend money on guns. Those with more money are able to spend money on guns more frequently. Those who do not spend money on guns never accumulate guns, those who do, do. Those who spend more than a pittance on the hobby generally become enthusiasts, and begin devoting larger portions of their discretionary income than would someone who does not, even if they have the money.
The result is a very heavy weighting on the most well-heeled *and* passionate gun owners when it comes to possession. Similar to what you see with money, and it stacks up even steeper generationally due to inheritance for the most part, just like money. Only people with no understanding of economics who can't see further than the tip of their own noses can't understand this. I'll bet a smaller fraction of the population owns half the notable oil paintings, half the bottles of wine costing more than 300$, jewelry, and half of any number of other luxury items (yes, guns are a luxury). None of those things have much bearing on the sanity of the owners, and neither do firearms.
The next interesting angle of the story, to me, would be what fraction of the population owns the majority of transferrable machineguns. I have a feeling it's only a couple hundred people, if that. Obviously we'll never know, since neither does the ATF in charge of knowing this.
78% of the adult population doesn't own guns.
This figure is literally the highest I have EVER seen from any source claiming to have determined the number of American gun owners. It's typically closer to 30% for the low end, and IIRC often polls even higher when a Clinton isn't actively running on a gun control platform
*It's funny; when you search for these graphs, nearly half up near the top of the search hits all claim ownership is declining, and almost ALL these stop at exactly 2010. Almost completely omitting the Obama Gun Renaissance (one poll through 2016 shows a suspicious cliff-drop in the percentage that mirrors 1994, but otherwise a maybe 8% decline since the 70's that's pretty unconvincing given the degree of urbanization that's occurred since then)
Wow; would you lookit; the number goes
down whenever a significant political panic hits. Funny how so many Americans gave up their guns after an AWB that grandfathered all existing guns & effective a then-tiny segment of the market. Oh, and then again after the AWB expired and tremendous pressure was brought trying to reinstate it. Oh, and a steady if slight decline during the Obama reign, during which gun sales set new records year after year in a fairly stagnant economy that also saw enormous expansion of concealed carry permits and/or owner registrations across the nation.
BTW, going from 47% to 22% means 55 million adult Americans disarmed. The very notion is laughable. The article also doesn't seem to pry into whether the likely income-distribution of firearms owners --we're all barefoot dirt farming hicks in flyover country, remember?-- could even conceivably support the output of the entire civilian firearms industry (ammo, accessories, and etc in addition to guns), especially with the 3/19 distribution they claim.
TCB