Do more people own long-guns vs. handguns? Personal Observation.

[Jcordell]

I've been shooting for almost thirty-three years. I honestly don't know how many firearms I've owned over the years. A bunch. Bought, sold and traded many of them. Of that I am certain. I should make a list one of these days. The point is I've spent many hours in gun-shops and visiting with other gun-owners.

I am also a police officer in Idaho - where there are many personally owned firearms. Over the past twelve years I've met more than a few folks (on and off duty) who own firearms. I also have many relatives who live in the southeastern U.S. (Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina) who are serious about firearms.

Over the past several years I've noticed that it seems many private collections usually seem to consist of between 3 - 7 firearms. On average. I know that there are those who own less and those who own many many many more. Just bear with me please.

The other thing that I have noticed is that typically the number of rifles and shotguns (on average) outnumber the handguns in many of these privately owned collections.

For what it's worth I've also noticed that long-guns often outnumber handguns at your typical gun-shop. Once again let me stress the words typical and average.

The other thing I've noticed is that many of the private collections might have some pretty nice rifles and shotguns, but often the handgun (and sometimes it might be just one or two handguns vs many long-guns) are utilitarian. A Ruger 22 pistol and/or a mid-size .357 magnum revolver with a 4" or 6" barrel. In the past few years younger gun-owners will typically have a Ruger, Glock, or Taurus 9/40/45 pistol instead of the revolver. And that's it.

More than once I've gotten raised eyebrows and expressions of amazement when I tell other gun-owners that I own five long-guns and twenty-two handguns. I've had a couple folks use words like specialist , connoisseur, snob and interesting.

I've done some research lately on well known gun-owners in the past. It seems that for every Elmer Keith and Jeff Cooper you find guys like Ernest Hemingway, John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, Robert Montgomery and Steve McQueen who evidently owned 3 or 4 rifles and shotguns for every handgun that was in their collections. I understand that not every piece in their collections have been sold off, but what has been sold off tends to be more rifles and shotguns.

So fellow members my question is this.

Are long-guns owned in greater numbers than handguns? Are there less (hardcore) handgun owners than long-gun owners? Are there more long-guns spread among a larger number of private citizens than handguns? In other words are more handguns owned by a smaller percentage of the population than long-guns?

I'm inclined to say yes, but I'm basing this on personal observations and my gut.

Please weigh in. I'm honestly curious as to what others think.
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