The numbers are always benumbing. Here’s a global gun update from the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey: There are more than 390 million civilian-owned firearms in the U.S. Or an estimated 120.5 guns for every 100 residents. The next highest ratio can be found in Yemen at 52.8 guns per 100 Yemenis. In raw numbers, India is second with 71 million firearms in circulation. In other words, nobody is close. This shouldn’t be part of “American exceptionalism.”
Here’s another number that seems in sync with a gun culture that venerates Second Amendment cherry-picking. Last year Gallup determined that 42 percent of American households had guns on hand. That’s about 50 million households. That’s about an average of eight guns per gun-owning household. That’s scary.