ABSTRACT
The number of weapons in private hands has increased is easy enough to demonstrate with a simple compilation of import and production data. The weapons increase reflects rising national fear and paranoia seems plausible enough, in the absence of any information to the contrary. The only direct evidence on trends in the mass demand for weaponry is contained among the several national surveys conducted since 1959 that have included a gun ownership question. These and all other available survey data on private ownership of guns show that approximately one-half the families in the United States possess at least one gun and that this proportion has been approximately constant for the last two decades. The total number of weapons in private hands is a function of three variable parameters: the total number of families, the proportion of those families who own at least one gun, and the average number of guns owned by families owning at least one of them.
