About 37% of US households had a gun in early 2013, one study found. Nearly one-fourth of the adults who were surveyed reported that they personally owned a gun, and about 13% claimed it was owned by another person in the household. The US has the highest number of owned guns and the highest per-capita rate of gun ownership in the world. In the US, there are an estimated 270 million civilian firearms, or about 90 for every 100 people.
More about gun ownership:
- Japan has the lowest rate of gun ownership, at less than one gun for every 100 people.
- Nearly half of US gun owners said they own a gun for protective reasons, which was an increase of about 22% since 1999.
- Although Brazil ranked 75th in the world in civilian gun ownership, it had the highest rate of homicide from guns, with more than 34,000 of them in 2010.