Masterbagger wrote:
California is one of the states that skew the statistic. They have a may-issue permitting system. That fulfills the obligation in their eyes towards a civil right they don't particularly like people having. In effect though if you are just an average guy and apply for a permit in CA they can deny you without a reason. The licenses are entirely up to their discretion to issue. They also have no reciprocity agreements with other states so out of state permits are not legal. It's no mystery why CA doesn't have a lot people legally carrying. I said why I didn't attempt to measure the 12 million plus known permits nationally in the US against the total adult population of the US. It's states like CA.
Of course it's a skewl statistic, that's the point I'm making. Selective statistic without full context can be twitted to any kind of narrative. What about a state like Kentucky, it has a 17.3% of adult with carrying permit, but that is out of a population of only 4.5 mil, whether Texas and Cali have 30 and 40 mil respectively. You have New Jersey with 0.5% on a 9mil pop at the same time Florida at 10% with 20mil pop. So no, the argument on Cali doesn't make sense since your data skewl both way. Btw, the national average is around 3%, if you want to push it a bit playing with age group and demographic, you can make it to 4%, but of course pro-gun activist would love to round that number up to 5%.
Another example is the #of gun per capita in the US looks pretty big when one just look up at the numbers, but when one compare between the # of registered firearm and the # of permit, you'll see the former completely outstrip the latter by many fold. Try to interpret the raw # with and without that context, and it's easy to see how 2 completely different (if not even opposite) interpretation can be drawn.
I'm also familiar with the idea that gun owning households are in decline. I'm skeptical of it. The source was phone surveys. I'd rather see where the money is going and I'm seeing record breaking numbers of background checks for gun purchases every single month.
Why relying on outside source then? Especially when you know you will be bias against anything that doesn't work toward your argument. Run your own numbers, all the number I just gave you above I calculate myself. It's not hard to look up at the census data for a state as well as the number of permit in a state, the department of public safety in most state issue this number regularly.
And that 12mil plus # you mentioned? That number almost triple of what it was in 2007. So if the # is 3%-4% now after it has triple, where was the number before it? Between 1%-2%? So no, the long term declining in gun ownership is not a myth, it's a fact if you compare it to historical trend.
Remember what happened in 2007? That's right, it's when Obama started to become the President. Like I said, the gun control narrative is simply one of the MANY anti-Obama platform that the GOP have tried to ride in the last few years, whether it's reasonable or not is often a moot point. And like I said, they succeed, GOP won back Senate with Tea Party power, they even manage to have someone like Trump as the front runner. The number might please you but it's not a sight of good thing to come, it's like having people clear the shelve stocking up before a storm is wondrous for the accounting book, but it's NOT a healthy sight.
And it's funny you mention money, because to me that's what it is. It's not the politic, or the people, it's the money. See, I support the 2nd amendment, I don't own a gun but I do want to reserve my right of having one. If and when I do, it will be a gun I consider appropriate for the purpose of self-defense, to me a gun is tool to serve an end, nothing more nothing less. When you use term like "American most favorite rifle" (by whom and what standard? Sale number? Rating among pro-gunners? You think the 95% who doesn't own gun care what is the most favorite guns among the 5%?), or using words like "my favorite magazine", admit it, this is less about the 2nd amendment, about the ability to protect yourself. It's about your hobby.
And really, my original post was not meant to argue with another American. I have seen this argument over the last decade that I know no reason/logic/statistic really mean anything, the only things that is matter is how people want to see the number that suit their own interpretation. Like I said, I rest easy knowing/believing that gun control will eventually go the way of stuffs like tobacco, it won't have to be something that change with shock and awn overnight (that's why Obama fail), it will be due to social tiding that eventually, people will come around to sensible thing.
My post is more to provide people like Usenko with a bit more context, as someone who also read foreign media I can see the American = Gun stereotype exist. The point is, even if I'm going to give it the 5%, 1 out of 20 is only sound impressive without a context. If 40 people is in the room and 2 carry guns, that's A LOT. But in a population of 350mil, 5% is rather insignificant. Especially when that 5% is very vocal about they represent the value/tradition and claim to be the face the whole US, since when 5% is representative of anything? The way people trumpeting and believing, you would think at least half of the US populate carry gun.
Long post warning:
