Most of the world’s firearms are privately owned, says The Small Arms Survey.

And which country has the most privately owned firearms per capita? [Firearms as defined, by the Small Arms Survey, include improvised craft guns as well as handguns, rifles, shotguns, and machine guns.]

You probably won’t be surprised to learn that this particular distinction goes to the United States.

In 2007 the Small Arms Survey estimated the number of civilian firearm ownership world-wide at approximately 650 million weapons out of some 875 then in existence. National ownership rates range from a high of 90 firearms per every 100 people in the United States, to one firearm or less for every 100 residents in countries like South Korea and Ghana. With the world’s factories delivering millions of newly manufactured firearms annually, and with far fewer being destroyed, civilian ownership is growing.

 

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