Quote:
Originally Posted by James Bond 007
From the PDF:
You cannot determine gun ownership rates from gun sales anymore than you can determine car ownership rates from car sales or ownership rates of anything based on sales of the same. It could simply be because fewer people are buying more cars and guns, buying or replacing them more frequently, or a whole host of other reasons.
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Actually the way it works is the converse of your argument.
One NICS check can release several firearms to the same buyer. Suppose you went today to an FFL, and bought a full sized pistol, compact pistol, shotgun, Mini-14, and 308 bolt action rifle, you'd receive
ONE recorded NICS check (because unless something miraculous happens, you're still approved at time of sale for all of them).
However one purchase/one check is the minimum rational number. One person could at most (if they're smart and avoiding MSR reporting) buy 4 firearms in a month thus account for four checks, but it still would not explain the increase (because those people are not going to spontaneously rush out and buy a gun, they know the system and are avoiding multiple sales reports).
Further one additional aspect is Carry Permits from states that run a NICS exempt carry license, which perform a NICS check on issue/reissue, that said the numbers should be pretty constant, and would not explain the increase.
Unfortunately even those who report gun ownership figures (such as Gallup and Pew) are researching how the gun ownership figures don't actually reflect the apparent increases in sales and reported training in firearms by instructors, and there are discrepancies across research companies . Let's be honest, people don't train in the use of guns, unless they're gun owners, long term gun owners don't take as many training courses as newbies, and the market for gun training and instruction has been expanding for 5-10 years, further the actual legal defensive use courses have increased in size and number too, something that really didn't exist prior to the LFI founded in 1981. When I took my LFI course in 2004, there were 20 spots, 17 filled, and it was the only one in that area, and ran once every six months, the same course now runs monthly and has 60 spots, with 3 instructors (but not Mas, who was mine). So there's something very fishy about self reported gun ownership figures, when every other measure that's related to gun ownership is increasing, but reported ownership is decreasing, what's the conclusion? That owners are buying more? Well those hicks and their guns have some serious bank, paying upwards of $500+ for a typical rifle to $10k+ for specialized items (not NFA), and $1-2k for a training course, and they're accelerating their purchasing as the ownership falls not only to maintain sales and other measures at parity, but to increase those measures. Or the reported gun ownership figures are underreporting because of lack of faith in the security of the reported information.