Americans own 40 per cent of world’s firearms: Study

This article is more than 12 months old

Jun 20, 2018 06:00 am

Americans make up only 4 per cent of the global population, but they own 40 per cent of the world's firearms, a new study said on Monday.

There are more than one billion firearms in the world, but 85 per cent of them are in the hands of civilians, with the remainder held by law enforcement and the military, according to the Small Arms Survey.

The survey, produced by the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, based its estimates on sources including civilian firearm registration data from 133 countries and territories.

Of the 857 million guns owned by civilians, 393 million are in the US. Americans also have access to powerful firearms not available in many other countries due to tighter legislation.

Said Mr Aaron Karp, one of the authors of the report: "Why are they buying them? That is another debate. They are buying them probably because they can. The American market is extraordinarily permissive."

Gun ownership rates vary across the world, with 121 firearms for every 100 residents in the US compared to 53 in Yemen, 39 in Montenegro, and 35 in Canada.