America is now home to an estimated 533 million privately owned firearms—a staggering figure that represents 1.55 guns for every man, woman, and child in the United States. It’s a powerful reminder that the right to keep and bear arms is alive and well in the land of the free.
But don’t get too comfortable. That number isn’t a victory lap. It’s a call to arms. Literally.
Record-Setting Gun Ownership
According to the latest data compiled from ATF manufacturing reports and NICS background checks, Americans have added over 20 million new firearms to their collections in the last year alone. Since 1987, when roughly 198 million firearms were privately owned, the number has nearly tripled.
That growth didn’t happen by accident. It happened because Americans know that every firearm in private hands is one more barrier between tyranny and liberty.
Why 533 Million Still Isn’t Enough
Let’s be crystal clear: we need more guns in this country, not fewer. Why? Because we’re still facing down a federal bureaucracy that thinks it can regulate our rights into oblivion.
Even now, with Joe Biden out of office and Republicans in control of Congress and the White House, the machinery of the deep state gun control apparatus is still up and running. The ATF, despite public backlash and legal setbacks, continues to exist.
Even after trying to redefine forced reset triggers as machine guns, criminalizing pistol braces, going after hobbyists with the “engaged in the business” rule, and attacking FFL holders using a “zero tolerance policy” to strip honest gun dealers of their licenses over missing commas and paperwork typos.
They’re not stopping unless we make them stop.
Every Gun Is a Vote Against Tyranny
The Founding Fathers didn’t include the Second Amendment so we could go skeet shooting. They enshrined it so that the people would always have a check on government power.
A gun in your safe is a vote for freedom. A gun on your hip is a deterrent against tyranny. And another gun in your collection is a firewall against the next ATF overreach.
The only way to ensure that the federal government never again kicks in a door at 6 a.m., tapes over a doorbell camera, and kills a peaceful American like Bryan Malinowski is to ensure the American people are so well-armed, so well-trained, and so well-organized that the government wouldn’t dare.
It’s Time to Stock Up and Speak Out
Buy another rifle. Buy two. Train with your firearms. Teach your children.
Support pro-gun organizations like Texas Gun Rights, who aren’t afraid to demand abolishing the ATF and repeal of the NFA. Tell your members of Congress to pass H.R. 221 to ABOLISH the ATF, and H.R. 335 to REPEAL the NFA.
And never, ever apologize for being a gun owner. With 533 million privately owned firearms, we’re not just the most well-armed citizenry in the world—we’re the most free.
But if we want to stay that way, we have to make 533 million look like a warm-up.
Let the government bureaucrats count their rules. We’ll count our magazines.
It looks like no one owns guns in Mass, Rhode Island, or NJ. HI even looks darker than those states.
The minimum on the scale is 14.7% – 1 in 7 for RI, CT, and NJ. Not a bad number.
This map makes me want to move northward from the socialist republic of Polis-stan (CO) to WY and MT.
Polis-stan is a “democracy” since the state senate went 60% (D). “Democracy” means that the majority (Denver/Boulder metro) infringes on the civil rights of the minority (rural Colorado).
We can’t stop them. Well, maybe at the appellate court but it costs big bucks. Please pray for the oppressed in Polis-stan.
While youre praying for the oppressed in Polis-stan, say a prayer for those of us in Washington state. We too are controlled by a Liberal super majority in Olympia. Almost the entire western part of the state is liberal. 2 counties west of the Cascade mountains are conservative, I live in one of them, fortunately. The entire east side of the state is also conservative. However, 5 counties on the west side, control the rest of the state politically. Not to mention we have the most useless, uneducated Senators in D.C. They both respond to letters by spewing the same Gun Violence Archive lies. I belive if a Congressman is going to legislate firearms law, they should be required to take a full firearm safety course, including a week of range time before they can even consider firearms legislation. Not to mention a course on the Constitution, specifically, the 2nd ammendment. Not one liberal Congressman knows the definition of the word “infringed”, not a single one. And they all need to be reminded of their oath of office that they violate daily by trampling on our constitional rights. It’s time to vote out the useless congressmen and put people in office who will honestly protect our rights. So we need to vote in non-career politicians or just non politicians like we did with Trump.
This would be interesting broken down by county.
Keep in mind, those are just the ones we know about. Millions of guns were made before record-keeping was mandated or required to the extent it is today. Serial numbers weren’t required until the 1960s. Guns last practically forever if they’re taken care of. Millions more have been brought in privately or privately made. It’s not implausible that there could be close to a billion firearms in the US.
Cool map for gun ownership by state. Now do it by county.
I am disappointed my state of Idaho has fallen behind Montana and Wyoming.