I conducted a survey in one NY school I worked in with 900 students and, according to the middle school students, 82% of the homes had guns. Is that representative of the country?
Have you ever wondered how many households in the U.S. have guns? Ammo.com conducted some research, reviewing surveys, studies, and sales reports to come up with an answer to that very question.
The U.S. government and manufacturers don’t track firearm sales, which is great. But our freedom makes our research more challenging. Here are a few of the highlights from Ammo.com’s report:
Report Highlights: American civilians own nearly half of the world’s civilian-owned firearms. Similarly, there’s at least one firearm in nearly half of all American households.
- Household gun ownership decreased from 47% in 1990 to 45% in 2022.
- Montana, Alaska, and Wyoming have the highest rates of household firearm ownership in the country.
- Hawaii, New Jersey, and Massachusetts have the lowest rates of household firearm ownership compared to other states.
- In 2024, 52% (66.5 million) American households reported having at least one firearm.
- The average American gun owner reportedly has between two and five firearms.
Household gun ownership in the U.S. declined between 1990 and 2019, but it’s back on the rise in 2025.
Of course, these figures don’t include all the people who don’t want anyone to know they have guns.
A friend asked me if there are stats on how many gun owners are Democrats and how many Republicans.
I told him I have not seen any stats but my guess is that there are more Republicans who own guns than Democrats.
Doesn’t ring true to me…