By the Numbers: Guns in America

[Penny Lane 8,159]

(CNN) -- Following the mass shootings in a Colorado movie theater and a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, the debate over gun control has been reignited: How should the country balance its constitutional right to bear arms with access to deadly firepower?

Here's a look by the numbers on guns in the United States and Americans' attitudes toward them.

26 -- Percentage of Americans who favor a handgun ban, a record low, according to a 2011 Gallup Poll.

60 -- Percentage who supported a ban in 1959, the first year Gallup asked this question.

47 -- Percentage of Americans who told Gallup in 2011 that they had at least one gun at home.

At least 41 -- Percentage increase in background checks for new gun owners in Aurora, Colorado, on the weekend after shootings there.

56 -- Number of votes in the Senate that the assault weapons ban received in 1994.

19 -- Types of military-style weapons affected by the ban.

10 -- Years the assault weapons ban was in effect until it expired.

40 -- Percentage of guns sold through unlicensed, private sellers.

5,400 -- Licensed firearms manufacturers in the United States in 2011.

310 million -- Total number of nonmilitary firearms in the United States as of 2009.

$75 or less -- Retail price of a low-caliber handgun.

At least $1,500 -- Retail price of a "higher-end" shotgun or rifle.

49 -- Percentage of Americans who said in 2011 that protecting gun-ownership rights was important.

46 -- Percentage who thought gun control was more important.

58 -- Percentage polled in 2011 after the shootings in Tucson, Arizona, that felt mass shootings were mainly isolated events carried out by "troubled individuals."

16,799 -- Homicides in the United States in 2009.

11,493 -- Homicides by firearm in 2009.

150,000 -- Brady Act background checks in 2009 that led to the rejection of a potential gun buyer's application.

39 -- Percentage of applications denied by states because of a felony conviction or indictment.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/09/politics/btn-guns-in-america/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

[X Factor 1,111]

I don't care either way regarding banning guns. In New Jersey guns are highly regulated. But looking at the numbers I see 11,493 people killed by guns in 2009. In the same year Over one million were killed by abortions. It seems to me that people kill people not the guns.

[rocks 494]

I don't care either way regarding banning guns. In New Jersey guns are highly regulated. But looking at the numbers I see 11,493 people killed by guns in 2009. In the same year Over one million were killed by abortions. It seems to me that people kill people not the guns.

Abortions don't kill "people".

[Penny Lane 8,159]

I don't care either way regarding banning guns. In New Jersey guns are highly regulated. But looking at the numbers I see 11,493 people killed by guns in 2009. In the same year Over one million were killed by abortions. It seems to me that people kill people not the guns.

Killed by abortions? Oh boy...

[DaveE 178]

and every time it is in the news, gun/ammo sales sky rocket.

PS - I want to see the person who counted them, as they obviously skipped my house.

Edited August 9, 2012 by DaveE

[Ban Hammer 13,136]

Abortions don't kill "people".

depends on your stance on the topic.

Retail price of a low-caliber handgun.

what exactly is a low caliber handgun?

[Penny Lane 8,159]

depends on your stance on the topic.

what exactly is a low caliber handgun?

There are links a the source for every statistic they list - maybe that'll give an idea?

[rocks 494]

depends on your stance on the topic.

No, it doesn't. A Fetus is not a "person". Ask any doctor...

[SMOKE 1,426]

what exactly is a low caliber handgun?

for $75 or less i'm betting it just big enough to piss off the person that gets shot by it.

[Ban Hammer 13,136]

No, it doesn't. A Fetus is not a "person". Ask any doctor...

like i said in the first place....

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

The US does seem to have plenty of shooting rampages.

I don't remember there being a lot of abortion rampages.

[Ban Hammer 13,136]

There are links a the source for every statistic they list - maybe that'll give an idea?

Ned Schwing, 2005 Standard Catalog of Firearms: The Collector’s Price and Reference Guide, 15th edition (Iola,

Wisconsin, 2005) is the source cited. and i'm not going to buy the book to find out what is meant by that buzz phrase.

[rocks 494]

like i said in the first place....

If a fetus was a person, it would be called so. But it isn't...

looking at the numbers I see 11,493 people killed by guns in 2009. In the same year Over one million were killed by abortions.

[SMOKE 1,426]

The US does seem to have plenty of shooting rampages.

I don't remember there being a lot of abortion rampages.

the news doesn't report from the dumpsters behind the clinics

[rocks 494]

The US does seem to have plenty of shooting rampages.

I don't remember there being a lot of abortion rampages.

Anti abortion, yes. Abortion, no.