Surveys about gun ownership in the U.S. are largely meaningless, because not that many people are willing to tell a total stranger whether or not they have any guns in the house. So by all means, take this one’s findings (a state-by-state comparison of the percentage of households with guns) with as much salt as you wish.
That said: Texas ranks only 13th? Behind Minnesota?
It’s enough to make a man sick to his stomach. If Louisiana, Arkansas and even New Mexico, our poorest and least significant neighbors can chalk up (much) higher percentages, then it’s time we Texans got some new shooters up and running here in the Lone Star State.
So this is a call to arms (literally) to any of my Texas Readers who might know of some poor souls who are defenseless: get it done.
At least we beat Oklahoma…
Some comments:
Because it’s a CBS survey, the tools ranked the states in inverse order. (Rhode Island ranked #1 with only 5%. No wonder their burglary rate is astronomical.) Alaska, as expected, has over 60% of households with guns and are at the top (actually #51; they also gave statehood to D.C., the assholes, hence the strange numbers).
Hawaii also ranks high, but that’s because there are only about ten households in all of Hawaii. (The rest are Japanese tourists, hippies of no fixed abode and soldiers / sailors.)
Finally: I love the pictures they use to illustrate each state. Usually, it’s some dimbulb police chief looking earnest as he holds up an eeeevil gun, but the best they can do with Texas is a Mexican at a gun show with a WWII Lee-Enfield No.4? Yeah, that’s representative of Texas gun owners. (Nice-looking gun, by the way.)
I’m doing my part to increase the gun owner count, or is that to increase the count of guns by one owner? what ever.
I don’t trust the survey. I’m guessing they use registration data which is less reliable in the free states.
It says on the first or second page what they used.
Nationwide phone survey of 4000 adults.
“Hello, I’m from some polling company you never heard of and we were hired to do a poll. Do you own any guns?”
“That said: Texas ranks only [18th]? Behind Minnesota?”
Leave Minnesota alone. If your city-dwellers were constantly electing people like Al Franken and Paul Wellstone and Walter Mondale and Hubert Humphrey and Eugene McCarthy and Keith Ellison, you’d buy a lot of guns, too.
LOL Bobby
I am helping to keep Florida way down there on the firearms owners list. I have no firearms in or around my house, car, shooting club, reloading room or any other place.
And by the way, Kim, You should buy that CZ 452, they are superb .22 rifles that shoot well beyond their price point.
I’m absolutely dying here that Florida was ranked #24. I guess they had to count all of the Damn Yankee pussies, though.
I left the People’s Republic of New Jersey and moved to Oklahoma in 1980. I had a Mossberg 500 bird gun and a reproduction .36 Navy Colt black powder pistol buried in the U-Haul trailer. So that was a minus 2 for Jersey and a plus 2 for Oklahoma. When I got settled in, my first purchases were a Yugo Kar 98 Mauser and a Winchester 94 .30-30. Thirty seven years later I still own the Model 94 – just because by state law (I think) every Okie has to own a lever gun – and it shoots really well. These days my rather eclectic collection of things that go bang would outfit a rifle platoon thanks to a pretty good job and a very patient and understanding wife. She’s a pretty good shot too.
I live in Calif. I adapted the below from something I learned in the Nav many decades ago:
It is my policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence or absence of firearms at my residence or any other property under my control.
I’m shocked that New Hampshire is so far down the list. Then again, NH has yet to be fully infiltrated by the Mass-holes . . . buddy of mine who lives in a border town and has a NH non-res CCW thinks that NH may move to “constitutional carry”. Open carry with no license of any kind is already common.
– Brad