Phillip Morris wonders how many guns are enough.

“It’s estimated that there are more than 310 million firearms in the United States. That’s a firearm for nearly every man, woman and child. But only a minority of Americans owns the bulk of these guns. Pew Research Center polling shows that around 37 percent of Americans report that an adult in their household owns a gun. Perhaps we’ve passed the point where we can usefully ask why some Americans are armed to the teeth and others aren’t. We champion our Second Amendment. It should remain inviolable. To neuter it would incite war. At what point, however, does the unabated and loosely regulated domestic arms race render us all potential victims?” – Phillip Morris in A handful of Americans own most of the nations’ guns: Phillip Morris [via cleveland.com]

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76 COMMENTS

  1. 37% of respondents admitted to owning a gun. Considering the poll was little more than a unknown caller asking an unsuspecting answerer if they have a gun in the house, we can assume that few people will lie about owning a gun when they don’t, but we can also assume that many people will lie about not owning a gun when they do.

    So, /at least/ 37% of American households own a gun. Since when is more than a third of any population larger than 15 a “handful”? In the US, that “handful” is something like 40 million households.

    • Per a Zogby poll that asked “If a national pollster asked you if you owned a firearm, would you determine to tell him or her the truth or would you feel it was none of their business?” 36% of respondants said they’d tell the pollster to pound sand.

      http s://w ww.prnewswire. com/news-releases/zogbyoleary-report-polls-reveals-americans-domestic-and-international-concerns-300041108.html

      If that follows through, the actual percentage of households with gun ownership would be higher than the 37% that will admit to it.

  2. “At what point, however, does the unabated and loosely regulated domestic arms race render us all potential victims?”

    All potential victims??? Really? Reductio ad absurdum much? It is to imply that being armed makes one not just a potential criminal, but an inevitable criminal… if everyone else is inevitably a victim.

    If that was remotely possible, it would have happened long ago.

    • I think of it in a slightly different way:

      Mankind’s awful propensity to attack others is what renders us all potential victims of violent attack, period. How many firearms exist is totally irrelevant.

      Proof: Africans and native Americans raped, pillaged, plundered, and enslaved countless thousands/millions of victims without firearms — as did Europeans and every other tribe/race before firearms existed.

  3. 310 million firearms for one person might be excessive, otherwise who gives a shit how many guns a person owns. It’s not like you can use more than 2 (poorly) at a time.

  4. Again the lie of a few old farts owning all the guns.

    Pure bullshit but it helped beat hillary and will help to beat the next idiot that refuses to not piss on the third rail.

      • It depends on how you define “arsenal”. At 33 I own more guns than I have years on this planet.

        Granted, dear old dad helped me out with that before I was legal to buy them myself but at 18, using my second job, I started buying no less than a couple guns a year. In some flush years it was as many as five or seven.

        Then I went ahead and got married and it’s down to one or two…

    • That lie is awesome, we need to encourage them to carry it even further. Pretty soon it will be “There are only 4 gun owners in America, and they each own 200 million guns with thirty round full auto clipazines!”

      • I want to be one of the four. Heck, I am not greedy, I would settle for only having 50 million guns.

  5. “That’s a firearm for nearly every man, woman and child”
    i know he didnt just assume someones gender. LOL

  6. He would probably $#!+ himself if he knew that, thanks to eight years of Barry, it’s closer to 500 million. The boating accidents could fill one of the smaller Great Lakes.

  7. When is too many, too many? When the desire for each individual is abated. Period. Any attempt at limitation should be considered the most violent suppression of man’s natural rights, and should be answered with in kind violence.

    • Well, the bright side is, that in the unlikely event you decide once again to become a gun owner, there are all those new fangled 80% receivers available for both rifles and pistols. Seems like gun ownership has become too much of a responsibility these days. Perhaps your boating accident was for the best, afterall.

    • I really hope you didn’t actually give up all of your guns. As expensive as some are now. To get them back you would probably have to float a loan!

  9. “That’s a firearm for nearly every man, woman and child”

    Then sounds like we have NEARLY enough! – for a good start anyway

    • Minimum acceptable would be a handgun, MSR and a shotgun per citizen non felon. Perhaps a PMR or some hunting equipment. And starter/training handgun/rifle = a lot more than now.

  10. Immutable rules of the universe are immutable.

    ‘There is no such concept of one owning too many guns’

  11. Bearing Arms website say their are 600+ million firearms and 25 trillion rounds of ammo in the hands of legal citizens. Frankly no one really knows and that’s the way it should be. Certainly more than the state has and that’s the way it should be.

    When we are a problem they will know. When will that happen? When they start kicking doors.

    • Hers a commonly overlooked fact when it comes to approximating gun ownership- just since federal background checks were instituted 19 years ago- there have been 271 million NICS checks (through September, 2017. Yes, each one does not represent a firearms sale, and yes, it includes the sale/transfer of used firearms, too….but, each NICS/4473 can cover multiple firearms on 1 check, too. I believe that the ones with multiple firearm transfers balances out (or close to it) the used transfers. But just being conservative, let’s say that only 200 million represent new firearms. I believe we can safely assume that if in the last 19 years we increased by 200 million, than estimating existing firearms, from say, 1776, up until 1998, there were 250-300 million already in civilian hands wouldn’t be a stretch. I believe the real number is between 450-500 million firearms. It couldn’t possibly be as low as 300 million, if there’s been 271 million checks just in the last 19 years.

      • I tend to agree.

        The two most important questions to get at an answer:
        (1) How many households have one or more firearms?
        (2) How many firearms do average households with firearms have?

        We know for a fact that a fair number of people will deny owning firearms in response to anonymous surveys. Therefore, we cannot trust any results of anonymous surveys.

        I look at it this way:
        (1) About 2/3 of “conservative” households have firearms.
        (2) About 1/3 of “liberal” households have firearms.
        (3) Population is roughly half conservative and half liberal.
        (4) There are about 100 million households in the United States.
        Therefore, about 50 million households have firearms in the United States.
        (2/3 x 1/2 + 1/3 x 1/2 == 3/6 == 1/2. 100 million x 1/2 == 50 million)

        And how many firearms does the average household with firearms have? I would say between two and six, for an average of four per household which has firearms.

        Therefore, about 50 million households have about four firearms for a total of around 200 million firearms in private hands in the United States. If anyone is going to claim the total number is significantly higher, they are going to have to explain why a significantly larger percentage of households have firearms or why those households have a significantly larger number of firearms. Personally, I cannot see a lot households having more than four firearms. (I know or know of a LOT of people who have one or two firearms and only a handful of people who have 6+ firearms in their household.)

        • Methinks you may have some friends not being completely honest with you. They’re like Lay’s potato chips, you can’t have just one.

      • I believe I own one gun that required a NICS at the time of purchase.

        Anything else I currently own was bought using a concealed carry permit, which in my state can be documented in lieu of a NICS on the 4473. I think using NICS check #’s underestimates the real sales volume out there, especially with more and more people getting carry permits.

  12. There is no such number as too many. Like most commodities. Most gun owners buy what they feel will satisfy their individual needs.

  13. ” How Many Guns Are Too Many? ”

    A simple equation will supply the correct answer.

    All the guns there are + all the guns there ever were + all the guns there ever will be + 1 = too many (as in too much fun!)

  14. Too many? Compared to what? Like “too many” shooting stars or warm summer evenings? Who cares? Only those who don’t like summer evenings, I guess.

    I’m an old lady, mostly disabled. I have 12 guns of one kind or another. I can shoot them all very well. And I’d always like to have a different one. Don’t need a reason. Nope, not too many… not enough.

    And hell, in 71 years I’ve only shot one person… and he really asked for it. 🙂

  16. Pew = Communists

    Pew = The Enemy of Pew Pew Pew

    “Perhaps we’ve passed the point where we can usefully ask why some Americans are armed to the teeth and others aren’t.” YOU BET YOUR ASS. “We champion our Second Amendment.” YOU FING BETTER, BUT IT’LL MAKE IT WITHOUT YOUR STUPID ASS. “It should remain inviolable.” REPEAT THAT TO YOURSELF EVERY MORNING YOU WAKE UP FREE AND BEFORE YOU GO TO BED AT NIGHT. “To neuter it would incite war.” TO EVEN MENTION THAT YOU’RE THINKING OF IT IS AN ACT OF WAR. “At what point, however, does the unabated and loosely regulated domestic arms race render us all potential victims?” –” RIGHT THE F NOW. MAYBE YOU BETTER KILL YOURSELF AND YOURS BEFORE ANYONE BEATS YOU TO IT BUTTERCUP.

  17. How many members of the press do we need? How many press agencies?

    How many words need to be spoken freely?

    How many ideas need to be expressed openly?

  18. “We champion our Second Amendment. It should remain inviolable. To neuter it would incite war.”

    Sounds like you answered your own question.

  20. He does know that different firearms are used for different purposes, right?

    I mean, I have a couple different varmint guns, long rang big game rifle, short range big game rifle, turkey shot gun, brush gun, a few different .22s, waterfowl shot gun, rabbit shot gun, field shot gun, black powder guns, summer CCW guns, winter CCW guns, hunting handguns, competition handgun, competition MSR, range MSR, home defense shotgun, home defense MSR, home defense handgun, etc…

    Every one serves a different purpose. Could I do the same with less? Probably…but who wants that?!

  21. Hey I don’t have enough. BTW the antifa sissies supposedly are having an uprising on November 4th…I’m ready for THAT😜😜😜

  22. Being an object that requires human interaction to perform its intended function- does it really matter how many guns there are?

    I’d also like to pose the reverse question to our esteemed author. How many guns are too little?

  23. That question is difficult to answer…. is it based off my actual income, or my fantasy one?
    The correct answer is…. as many or as few as one wants.

  24. why are people so obsessed with how many guns a person has, you can only shoot 2 at a time, at most

  26. “At what point, however, does the unabated and loosely regulated domestic arms race render us all potential victims?”

    Never, that’s when. It’s disarmament that renders us potential victims.

    • Nailed it. To fine tune a bit on what you said, I would simply add that it’s the point at which you don’t enter the arms race that you render yourself a victim.

  27. “I support the Second Amendment, but…”
    That “but” is proof you don’t support the Second Amendment.
    Yeah, I know it was actually “however,” but…

  28. There is an easy formula for the correct amount of guns to own.. N+1 where N = the amount of guns currently owned. Also expressed as D-1 where D = the amount of guns that it would take before your partner asks for a divorce.

    • I guess you never heard the following: “My wife said if I bought one more …… she would leave me. I’m going to miss her.”

      • And then there’s the wife who merely says, “I think I’ll get THAT one for myself.” His and her safes, and nobody is “the boss” except of themselves. That’s a real marriage. 🙂 Oh, separate incomes and bank accounts help too.

        My late husband gave me many nice guns… and we bought quite a few together. Neither of us ever thought we had enough guns, let alone too many. Moving was a pisser, of course. 🙂

  29. “We champion our Second Amendment. It should remain inviolable. To neuter it would incite war. At what point, however, does the unabated and loosely regulated domestic arms race render us all potential victims?”

    Rather than come up with another example of non-sequitur I-like-the-Second-Amendment-but blather, the good Mr. Morris’s concern for us being potential victims would be much better served if he instead turned his attention to the surging violence coming from his own Black community.

  30. If I wanted to participate in every match my gun club offers, I would need seventeen different guns. That’s using guns that meet the match rules but aren’t competitive just to minimize the count. To do it right would take twenty one.

  31. How Many Guns Are Too Many?
    ——————
    Easy, when the weight starts to crack the foundation of your house. Then it’s time to buy a house with a house with a better foundation.

  32. Points of stupidity delineated:

    1. 37% of the population is about 120 million. That’s less than 3 guns per citizen. I own more than that and have since I was 8 years old.

    2. “We champion our Second Amendment. It should remain inviolable. To neuter it would incite war. At what point, however, does the unabated and loosely regulated domestic arms race render us all potential victims?”

    If you had a clue as to the real meaning of “Shall not be infringed” and the purpose of the 2A, you would not make such a stupid statement and contradict yourself in the same paragraph. That plus the POS libs already believe we are all victims as it is, so there is no point to the statement other than lying.

    3. 120,000,000 armed citizens is hardly an handful. Stupid, stupid, really stupid!

    4. “Public safety increasingly seems illusory [when has it not been?]. Whether it’s congressional leaders gathered for an early morning softball practice in the nation’s capital or country music lovers gathered for an outdoor concert, recent events remind us that a massacre can be carried out with frightening ease and quickness.”

    This has always been the case, the real issue is that murder rates have been falling for years. That, and rest assured, if some or all of those congressional leaders had been armed, it is likely that sorry POS would never have tried it. Vegas, that was a well planned attach by a crazy, can’t stop that. Could have used a bomb and did apparently try the jet fuel tanks near by. Lucky he struck out on that plan or the results could have been much worse.

    I could go on, but I’d just be pandering to idiots like this. End or rant.

  33. ” How Many Guns Are Too Many? ”
    How Many Friends Are Too Many?
    How Much Money Is Too Much?
    How Many People Lie To Pollsters?

  34. The problem is not with the guns in collections or even in citizen’s holsters. The problem is all the guns illegally in the hands of criminals who cause the overwhelming majority of firearms homicides.

  35. That’s like asking how much money is too much money. Really?
    Or how many kids are too many kids.
    Or any other personal question.
    Buy me a dinner and/or a drink first. LOL

  36. The Royal Mathematical Society has yet to quantify a term with a large enough numerical value to correctly answer that question.

  37. It has been said before and I will say it again: With over 300 million guns and over 100 million gun owners in America, if we were a problem, you’d know it.

  38. How many cars does Jay Leno have? How many cars “should” one person have? How many dresses did Jackie Kennedy have? How many girlfriends did JFK have? How many shots of bourbon did LBJ and Tricky Dick have every day before noon? How many tokes did former Presidents take without inhaling? How many little boys have been molested by priests and Boy Scout leaders? How many dogs have been shot by the NYPD? How many burgers per day did Bill Clinton really eat? How many tacos? Enquiring minds want to know.

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