[tweakmonkey]

Surprised?
http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...rpc=22&sp=true

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, making it the most heavily armed society in the world, a report released on Tuesday said.

U.S. citizens own 270 million of the world's 875 million known firearms, according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies.

About 4.5 million of the 8 million new guns manufactured worldwide each year are purchased in the United States, it said.

"There is roughly one firearm for every seven people worldwide. Without the United States, though, this drops to about one firearm per 10 people," it said.

India had the world's second-largest civilian gun arsenal, with an estimated 46 million firearms outside law enforcement and the military, though this represented just four guns per 100 people there. China, ranked third with 40 million privately held guns, had 3 firearms per 100 people.

Germany, France, Pakistan, Mexico, Brazil and Russia were next in the ranking of country's overall civilian gun arsenals.

On a per-capita basis, Yemen had the second most heavily armed citizenry behind the United States, with 61 guns per 100 people, followed by Finland with 56, Switzerland with 46, Iraq with 39 and Serbia with 38.

France, Canada, Sweden, Austria and Germany were next, each with about 30 guns per 100 people, while many poorer countries often associated with violence ranked much lower. Nigeria, for instance, had just one gun per 100 people.

"Firearms are very unevenly distributed around the world. The image we have of certain regions such as Africa or Latin America being awash with weapons -- these images are certainly misleading," Small Arms Survey director Keith Krause said.

"Weapons ownership may be correlated with rising levels of wealth, and that means we need to think about future demand in parts of the world where economic growth is giving people larger disposable income," he told a Geneva news conference.

The report, which relied on government data, surveys and media reports to estimate the size of world arsenals, estimated there were 650 million civilian firearms worldwide, and 225 million held by law enforcement and military forces.

Five years ago, the Small Arms Survey had estimated there were a total of just 640 million firearms globally.

"Civilian holdings of weapons worldwide are much larger than we previously believed," Krause said, attributing the increase largely to better research and more data on weapon distribution networks.

Only about 12 percent of civilian weapons are thought to be registered with authorities.

I don't own a gun, and doubt I ever will. I think so many people own guns here to protect themselves from other people with guns.

[super_Chris]

I don't own a gun. California has made it very annoying and hard to own a gun or use one you manage to have. If I lived in the desert or a less populated area I would definitely get one or two just to play with. I do believe that guns are fun and useful and should not be seen as an evil.

[Electric_Head]

Not surprised at all. I have 5 rifles in my house. All for hunting and target practice.

Having such a high percentage of people owning firearms, it must be VERY intimidating for any country or world leader who might want to try and invade us.

[Mr. Ali]

i dont own any but i will want to get an ar-15/m16 in the future.

[BrentN]

I wish i had the right to bear arms... However the canadian government 'allows' us to bear them, for now...

[TheDarkSeed]

3 rifles, 2 shotguns, 5 pistols. this down from before my mom's divorce of around 50 guns in our 3 safes.

[jake]

Originally Posted by BrentN

I wish i had the right to bear arms... However the canadian government 'allows' us to bear them, for now...

huh?

[Juballharshaw]

Originally Posted by jake

huh?

The US constitution gives us the right to gun ownership whereas the Canadians seem to have a range of licenses that allows people to own guns.

* Non-restricted licences allow a person to own and use most semi-automatic and manual action rifles and shotguns, but no handguns.
* Restricted licences allow a person to use most semi-automatic handguns and some restricted semi-automatic rifles and shotguns.
* Prohibited licences allow a person to use firearms classified as prohibited, including fully automatic firearms. Generally, these licenses are no longer available and may only be issued by the CFO of a province or the Federal Government. Otherwise, to possess one, the license must be grandfathered as of December 1, 1998.

Wiki ftw

Edit:

To answer the originally post. Currently I do not own any, but am planning on picking up some in the future.

[86mcss]

So many guns I honestly dont know how many.

[BrentN]

Yea exactly, in canada you do NOT have the right to bear arms, and you can NOT own a firearm for self defence purposes.

[jake]

I was just confused with your sentence when you contradicted yourself. I know the gun laws in Canada.

You can own a gun for self defence purposes, you just have to have a license.

[MSP]

I own a bunch. And duh! Of course America is the most armed nation on Earth. I didn't realize this was news.

[tweakmonkey]

It's not significant news. I just thought it was a good reason to start a poll.

[mistawiskas]

I no longer own any. An episode of homicidal tendencies convinced me to temporarily, voluntarily suspend my right to bear arms. If I were to get a piece, though, it's probably be counted as one of the 'not registered" varieties.

[GirlsRidePonies]

Man, when I read things like this it reminds me how much I fucking love America.

I've always kind of wondered what would happen if anyone ever tried to invade us, Red Dawn style. I mean, 9:10 guns to people? That'd be around 260+million people with guns. Nuts.

Also, have one rifle and a few handguns.

[JustinL]

1 .22, 1 .308. Both of those are "family guns" (given to me by my grandfathers). I own a pistol and a over/under shotgun. The pistol is my self defence gun, loaded with 10 rounds of hydrashock .45acp 96% one shot kill iirc!

[bbsmitz]

Originally Posted by Electric_Head

Having such a high percentage of people owning firearms, it must be VERY intimidating for any country or world leader who might want to try and invade us.

Who in the hell would even think of invading us?

The Minions of the Islamic Caliphate are coming. RUN!

/sarcasm

[Mr. Ali]

Originally Posted by GirlsRidePonies

I've always kind of wondered what would happen if anyone ever tried to invade us, Red Dawn style. I mean, 9:10 guns to people? That'd be around 260+million people with guns. Nuts.

You seem to forget that bomb > any amount of guns

[mistawiskas]

^^^yeah? Well we got McGuyver!

[GirlsRidePonies]

Originally Posted by Mr. Ali

You seem to forget that bomb > any amount of guns

I'm talking invasion, not nuclear war. An occupying force.