Gun ownership is at a forty-year low in U.S. households, according to a recently-released survey. A CBS News poll found 36 percent of American adults either own a handgun, rifle, shotgun or any other kind of firearm or live with someone who does, which is the lowest percentage since 1978.
Gun ownership rates have declined by 17 percent from the highest recorded rate in 1994 and have dropped 10 percent since 2012.
The survey, which was conducted with 1,001 American adults after an Orlando nightclub shooting last month, follows a consistent trend of declining gun ownership across the country. Other national polls have also shown a downward trend of gun ownership.
A 2014 General Social Survey found guns were present in fewer than a third (32 percent) of U.S. households, a 22-point drop from the high of 54 percent in 1977.
On the other hand, gun purchases are at record-high levels. Data from FBI firearm and background checks and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has shown that gun manufacturers are producing firearms at the highest levels ever, with more guns than people in the United States.
In 2009, the number of guns manufactured, imported and exported by U.S. gunmakers exceeded 310 million, a number higher than the amount of people living in the U.S.
How is it, then, that gun ownership is at an all-time low but gun production is at an all-time high?
A recent Washington Post article found the reason is because the rise in gun purchases is coming from gun owners stocking up rather than first-time buyers getting a hold of new firearms.
A Post analysis found the average American gun owner owns about eight firearms, a number which has doubled since the 1990s.
Calls for stricter gun control measures for firearms purchases have grown louder in recent weeks in the aftermath of the Orlando shooting, with many national lawmakers pushing for reforms on current gun laws.
Two weeks ago, House Democrats held a sit-in on the House floor demanding a vote over gun control legislation. Earlier in June, the U.S. Senate rejected a series of gun control proposals spurred by the Orlando shooting.
Among the proposals were bills to expand background checks for those buying guns at gun shows as well as measures to delay gun sales to those on the terror watch list. Two other proposals, which would have required states to add more information on mental health records to a national database, and a bill to ban all gun sales to those on the terror watch list, also failed.
The conversation didn’t end there, however. This week, House Speaker Paul Ryan is reported to be allowing the House to vote on a law to allow the attorney general to delay the sale of a gun to a suspected terrorist for three days. The bill is similar to one supported by the National Rifle Association.
Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi said the measure Ryan and Republicans are promoting isn’t sufficient since authorities would only have three days to convince a judge to block a gun sale.
"Ninety-one people die each day from gun violence in this country and the best Speaker Ryan can muster is a meaningless bill," said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi aide Drew Hammill.
Ryan said he wouldn’t “incentivize” disruptive behavior like the Democrats' sit in last month.
"The last thing we are going to do is surrender the floor over to these kinds of tactics when we know it's going to compromise the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens," Ryan said in an interview with Milwaukee radio station WTMJ.
Reach Allison Nielsen at allison@sunshinestatenews.com and follow her on Twitter @AllisonNielsen.
