Report Says Over 1 Billion Small Arms in World, Up From 2007

Source: Washington Post

UNITED NATIONS -- There are over 1 billion firearms in the world today, including 857 million in civilian hands -- with American men and women the dominant owners, according to a study released Monday.

The Small Arms Survey says 393 million of the civilian-held firearms, 46 percent, are in the United States, which is "more than those held by civilians in the other top 25 countries combined."

"The key to the United States, of course, is its unique gun culture," the report's author, Aaron Karp, said at a news conference. "American civilians buy an average of 14 million new firearms every year, and that means the United States is an overwhelming presence on civilian markets."

The report said the numbers include legal and illegal firearms in civilian hands, ranging from improvised craft weapons to factory-made handguns, rifles, shotguns and, in some countries, even machine guns. The estimate of over 1 billion firearms worldwide at the end of 2017 also includes 133 million such weapons held by government military forces and 22.7 million by law enforcement agencies, it said. MORE...


Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/new-survey-over-1-billion-small-arms-in-world-up-from-2007/2018/06/18/c60fa03c-7318-11e8-bda1-18e53a448a14_story.html?utm_term=.a8f414f10805

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According to the report, the countries with the largest estimated number of civilian-held legal and illegal firearms at the end of 2017 were the United States with 393.3 million, India with 71.1 million, China with 49.7 million, Pakistan with 43.9 million and Russia with 17.6 million.
At the top of that ranking are Americans, who own 121 firearms for every 100 residents. They are followed by Yemenis at 53, Montenegro and Serbia with 39, Canada and Uruguay about 35, and Finland, Lebanon and Iceland around 32.