Understanding the US (was Re: [UA] Greetings)

[Epoch]

On Wed, 16 May 2001 sneadj at mindspring.com wrote:

> Epoch <msulliva at wso.williams.edu> wrote:
> 
> > My experience is that non-U.S. residents tend to have a view of the
> > U.S. that could only be described as a caricature.  I seem to recall,
> > though I can't now find a link, so my memories may be playing tricks
> > on me, an Australian on RPG.net wondering if more than 50% of all U.S.
> > households had firearms.
> 
> Actually, 50% figure is IIRC fairly close (definitely within 10%).  It's 
> shocking and very disturbing but like all the caricatures, we are a 
> *heavily* armed nation. 

Hey, heck, this is on-topic.  If you're running a violence-ridden game of
UA in the States, you've gotta know these things.

So, remedial web searching saves the day (or doesn't):

33%, according to the CDC -
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3765768768fe.htm

Roughly 50%, constant in all studies since 1959, according to James Wright
(apparantly, he didn't see the previous study) -
http://www.mega.nu:8080/batf/www.boogieonline.com/revolution/firearms/facts/households.html

51% in Oregon - http://www.ohd.hr.state.or.us/cdsum/1996/ohd4516.pdf

48% -
http://www.research.ryerson.ca/SAFER-Net/Content/Contents/Focusing/Overview%20of%20Availability.htm

65-70% in Utah - http://www.goutah.org/whitep/policy05.html


>From which we can conclude:

1.  The CDC doesn't agree with anyone.

2.  Utah is a scary place.

3.  The issue is probably too politicized to get an accurate count.

4.  It seems to vary a lot by locality.  Particularly, more rural areas
are noted to have higher incidents of gun ownership.  We may assume that
these are largely longarms for hunting, sport, and pest-control purposes.

By the way, I was shocked and apalled to find that the Canadians seem to
hover around 25% in terms of households with guns.  Didn't you people make
them illegal?

Mike


--
"Generally speaking, the Slayer is always all out of bubble gum."
	http://www.edromia.com/games/buffy/index.html


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