By the Numbers: Guns in America
By: CNN News
Updated: August 9, 2012
Following the mass shootings in a Colorado movie theater and a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, the debate over gun control has been reignited: How should the country balance its constitutional right to bear arms with access to deadly firepower?
Here's a look by the numbers on guns in the United States and Americans' attitudes toward them.
26 -- Percentage of Americans who favor a handgun ban, a record low, according to a 2011 Gallup Poll.
60 -- Percentage who supported a ban in 1959, the first year Gallup asked this question.
47 -- Percentage of Americans who told Gallup in 2011 that they had at least one gun at home.
At least 41 -- Percentage increase in background checks for new gun owners in Aurora, Colorado, on the weekend after shootings there.
56 -- Number of votes in the Senate that the assault weapons ban received in 1994.
19 -- Types of military-style weapons affected by the ban.
10 -- Years the assault weapons ban was in effect until it expired.
40 -- Percentage of guns sold through unlicensed, private sellers.
5,400 -- Licensed firearms manufacturers in the United States in 2011.
310 million -- Total number of nonmilitary firearms in the United States as of 2009.
$75 or less -- Retail price of a low-caliber handgun.
At least $1,500 -- Retail price of a "higher-end" shotgun or rifle.
49 -- Percentage of Americans who said in 2011 that protecting gun-ownership rights was important.
46 -- Percentage who thought gun control was more important.
58 -- Percentage polled in 2011 after the shootings in Tucson, Arizona, that felt mass shootings were mainly isolated events carried out by "troubled individuals."
16,799 -- Homicides in the United States in 2009.
11,493 -- Homicides by firearm in 2009.
150,000 -- Brady Act background checks in 2009 that led to the rejection of a potential gun buyer's application.
39 -- Percentage of applications denied by states because of a felony conviction or indictment.
Here's a look by the numbers on guns in the United States and Americans' attitudes toward them.
26 -- Percentage of Americans who favor a handgun ban, a record low, according to a 2011 Gallup Poll.
60 -- Percentage who supported a ban in 1959, the first year Gallup asked this question.
47 -- Percentage of Americans who told Gallup in 2011 that they had at least one gun at home.
At least 41 -- Percentage increase in background checks for new gun owners in Aurora, Colorado, on the weekend after shootings there.
56 -- Number of votes in the Senate that the assault weapons ban received in 1994.
19 -- Types of military-style weapons affected by the ban.
10 -- Years the assault weapons ban was in effect until it expired.
40 -- Percentage of guns sold through unlicensed, private sellers.
5,400 -- Licensed firearms manufacturers in the United States in 2011.
310 million -- Total number of nonmilitary firearms in the United States as of 2009.
$75 or less -- Retail price of a low-caliber handgun.
At least $1,500 -- Retail price of a "higher-end" shotgun or rifle.
49 -- Percentage of Americans who said in 2011 that protecting gun-ownership rights was important.
46 -- Percentage who thought gun control was more important.
58 -- Percentage polled in 2011 after the shootings in Tucson, Arizona, that felt mass shootings were mainly isolated events carried out by "troubled individuals."
16,799 -- Homicides in the United States in 2009.
11,493 -- Homicides by firearm in 2009.
150,000 -- Brady Act background checks in 2009 that led to the rejection of a potential gun buyer's application.
39 -- Percentage of applications denied by states because of a felony conviction or indictment.
