Or :
More fun w/ statistics.According to the
VPC:
During the period 1972 to 2006, the percentage of American households that reportedhaving any guns in the home has dropped nearly 20 percentage points: from a high of54 percent in 1977 to 34.5 percent in 2006.That's all well and good. Now let's look at the real numbers. In 1970, the number of households was 63,450 according to the
Census Bureau. In 2002, the number of households was
111,278.
For those of you math impaired, that's an increase of 75% . Totaling about 34,000 homes in 1972 vs. over 38,000 homes with firearms in 2006. Now remember, that's households.
Their next claim is:
During the period 1980 to 2006, the percentage of Americans who reported personallyowning a gun dropped more than nine percentage points: from a high of 30.7 percentin 1985 to a low during the period of 21.6 percent in 2006.Once again, all well and good.
Population of the US in 1980 :225, 349,000
Population of the US in 2006 : 299,400,000
That's an increase of 25% in population. Or 65.25 million owners in 1980 vs. 64.5 million in 2006. That's statistically insignificant.
Notice the way they worded that though. "From a high in 1985" after claiming a period from 1980. If you look at the data, the reported numbers from '84-'85 jumped up 5%. An increase in ownership of nearly 12 million in one year? Followed by a drop of almost 6 million two years after and another 6 million the year after that? I'ld like to see the numbers proving that one.
So as much authority is given to the GSS, it's still all based on what people choose to answer on a phone survey.
Update: To show this even more clearly, another
phone survey of a similar number of people has personal ownership at 28% and "in home" at 42%. That's a difference of nearly 20 million people.
The full
NORC report.