---
"title": "A minority of Americans own guns, but just how many is unclear"
"description": "More than a third of Americans say they or someone in their household owns a gun."
"date": "2013-06-04"
"authors":
  -
    "name": "Drew DeSilver"
    "job_title": "Senior Writer/Editor"
    "link": "https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/staff/drew-desilver/"
"url": "https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/short-reads/2013/06/04/a-minority-of-americans-own-guns-but-just-how-many-is-unclear/"
"categories":
  - "Gun Policy"
---

# A minority of Americans own guns, but just how many is unclear

*Note: For newer findings on gun ownership, see the Center’s [2017 survey](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/social-trends/2017/06/22/americas-complex-relationship-with-guns/).*

There are by various estimates anywhere from [270 million](http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/A-Yearbook/2007/en/Small-Arms-Survey-2007-Chapter-02-annexe-4-EN.pdf) to [310 million](http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/201083.pdf) guns in the United States — close to one firearm for every man, woman and child. But in point of fact, only a minority of Americans own guns.

Gun ownership is one of the hardest things for researchers to pin down (as the Pew Research Center’s Michael Dimock, among others, discusses [here](http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/guns-present-polling-conundrum-1223/)). A [Pew Research Center survey](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/politics/2013/03/12/section-3-gun-ownership-trends-and-demographics/#who-owns) conducted in February found that 37% of households had an adult who owned a gun — 24% said they owned a gun, and 13% said someone else in their household did.

[![](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2013/03/3-12-13-13.png){.aligncenter width=400}](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/politics/2013/03/12/section-3-gun-ownership-trends-and-demographics/#profile-guns)

The Pew Research Center’s results generally track with the General Social Survey: When the GSS asked last year if people had a gun in their home or garage, 34% said they did.

Though other surveys (such as [this one](http://www.gallup.com/poll/1645/Guns.aspx) from Gallup) have found somewhat higher self-reported ownership rates, by and large they indicate that less than half of Americans own a gun.

The Pew Research and GSS surveys both have found declining gun-ownership rates over time. In 1973, for example, when the GSS first asked about gun ownership, 49% reported having a gun or revolver in their home or garage. [Read more](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/politics/2013/03/12/section-3-gun-ownership-trends-and-demographics/#profile-guns)