GUNSHow Many Guns Are There in the U.S.?
We’ve heard for years that there are more guns in the U.S. than people, but a precise accounting remains elusive. Federal legislation that would track gun sales or establish a nationwide handgun registry has been proposed — to much resistance from the gun lobby. Pinpointing the number of guns in circulation could help us better understand the relationship between gun sales and gun violence.
We’ve heard for years that there are more guns in the U.S. than people, but a precise accounting remains elusive. Federal legislation that would track gun sales or establish a nationwide handgun registry has been proposed — to much resistance from the gun lobby. In lieu of exact figures, we have gun owner surveys, industry disclosures, and federal gun background check figures, none of which are comprehensive.
Pinpointing the number of guns in circulation could help us better understand the relationship between gun sales and gun violence. Researchers have consistently found that more guns means more gun deaths, but gun rights advocates continue to argue the opposite. Meanwhile, annual gun deaths have soared to unprecedented levels.
Here, we’ll try to quantify America’s civilian gun stock, explaining through the process why it’s so complicated to do so — and how the numbers we have correlate with gun deaths.
How many guns have been manufactured for the U.S. market?
Every gun that’s manufactured by a licensed U.S. gunmaker has a paper trail. But what happens with that paper trail — and who has access to it — has been the topic of hot debate.
There is currently no requirement that federally licensed dealers report sales volume to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, so we don’t have complete data on individual purchases. But we do know how many guns are shipped to FFLs from licensed manufacturers every year, because gunmakers are required to report those figures to the ATF. The agency releases gun production numbers, along with import and export figures, in its Annual Firearms Manufacture & Export Report. “Production” is defined by the ATF as “firearms … manufactured and disposed of in commerce during the calendar year.”
According to historical ATF data, more than 465 million firearms have been produced for the U.S. market since 1899. This figure includes imports from foreign gunmakers but excludes exports by domestic gunmakers.
This data includes guns that are purchased by law enforcement, but not the military. The Small Arms Survey, a Switzerland-based outfit that publishes periodic reports on the global gun stock, estimated in 2018 that local, state, and federal police forces in the United States have just over 1 million firearms.
