A Look at Gun Ownership by State

Theres no way to get a precise count of gun ownership in the United States on a state-by-state basis. Thats due in large part to lack of national standards for licensing and registering firearms, which is left to the states and their varying degrees of regulation. But there are several reputable organizations that track firearms-related statistics, such as the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, which can provide a fairly accurate look at gun ownership by state, as well as annual federal licensing data. Guns in the U.S. According to the Washington Post, there are more than 350 million guns in the U.S. That figure comes from a 2015 analysis of data from the  Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). But other sources say there are far fewer guns in the U.S., perhaps 245 million or even 207 million. Even if you use a lower estimate, thats still more than one-third of all civilian-owned guns in the world, making America No 1. in terms of gun ownership in the world. A 2017 survey by the Pew Research Center reveals some more interesting stats about guns in the U.S. Handguns are the most common choice of firearm among gun owners, especially those who only own one weapon. The South is the region with the most guns (about 36 percent), followed by the Midwest and West (32 and 31 percent, respectively) and the Northeast (16 percent). Men are more likely than women to own a gun, according to Pew. About 40 percent of men say they own a firearm, while 22 percent of women do. A closer analysis of this demographic data reveals that about 46 percent of guns are owned by rural households, while just 19 percent of urban households do. About 66 percent of firearms in the U.S. are owned by people aged 50 and older. People aged 30 to 49 own about 28 percent of the nations guns, with the rest belonging to this 18 to 29. Politically, Republicans are twice as likely as Democrats to own a gun. Number of Guns Ranked by State The following data is based on 2017 gun registration statistics from the ATF, as compiled by HuntingMark.com. States (plus Washington D.C.) are ranked by guns per capita. If you were to rank states by total guns registered, Texas would be No. 1. For a different perspective, CBS conducted a telephone survey that placed Alaska at the top of the per-capita ranking. Rank State # of guns per capita # of guns registered 1 Wyoming 229.24 132,806 2 Washington D.C. 68.05 47,228 3 New Hampshire 46.76 64,135 4 New Mexico 46.73 97,580 5 Virginia 36.34 307,822 6 Alabama 33.15 161,641 7 Idaho 28.86 49,566 8 Arkansas 26.57 79,841 9 Nevada 25.64 76,888 10 Arizona 25.61 179,738 11 Louisiana 24.94 116,831 12 South Dakota 24.29 21,130 13 Utah 23.48 72,856 14 Connecticut 22.96 82,400 15 Alaska 21.38 15,824 16 Montana 21.06 22,133 17 South Carolina 21.01 105,601 18 Texas 20.79 588,696 19 West Virginia 19.42 35,264 20 Pennsylvania 18.45 236,377 21 Georgia 18.22 190,050 22 Kentucky 18.2 81,068 23 Oklahoma 18.13 71,269 24 Kansas 18.06 52,634 25 North Dakota 17.56 13,272 26 Indiana 17.1 114,019 27 Maryland 17.03 103,109 28 Colorado 16.48 92,435 29 Florida 16.35 343,288 30 Ohio 14.87 173,405 31 North Carolina 14.818 152,238 32 Oregon 14.816 61,383 33 Tennessee 14.76 99,159 34 Minnesota 14.22 79,307 35 Washington 12.4 91,835 36 Missouri 11.94 72,996 37 Mississippi 11.89 35,494 38 Nebraska 11.57 22,234 39 Maine 11.5 15,371 40 Illinois 11.44 146,487 41 Wisconsin 11.19 64,878 42 Vermont 9.41 5,872 43 Iowa 9.05 28,494 44 California 8.71 344,622 45 Michigan 6.59 65,742 46 New Jersey 6.38 57,507 47 Hawaii 5.5 7,859 48 Massachusetts 5.41 37,152 49 Delaware 5.04 4,852 50 Rhode Island 3.98 37,152 51 New York 3.83 76,207 Sources CBS News staff. Gun Ownership and Gun Violence in America, by the Numbers. CBSNews.com, 15 February 2018. Edwards, Jeff. Gun Ownership Mapped: How Many Guns Each State Had In 2017? HuntingMark.com,  18 February 2018. Ingraham, Christopher. There are Now More Guns Than People in the United States. WashingtonPost.com, 5 October 2015. McCarthy, Tom; Beckett, Lois; and Glenza, Jessica. Americas Passion for Guns: Ownership and Violence by the Numbers. TheGuardian.com, 3 October 2017. Parker, Kim; Horowitz, Juliana Menasche; Igielnik, Ruth; Oliphant, Baxter; and Brown, Anna. The Demographics of Gun Ownership. Pew Research Center, 22 June 2017.