Statistical (juxtaposed): Yes less households as % own firearms but that doesn't mean less gun owners. Hint: population of the US has increased.
Yeah, according to two reputable polls, pew & gss, it means gun owners - by rate, per capita, which is the proper way over time to contrast whether gun ownership is trending up or falling:
The Pew Research Center has tracked gun ownership since 1993, and our surveys largely confirm the General Social Survey trend.
Pew survey conducted Feb. 13-18 {2013} 37% of adults reported having a gun in their household: 24% say they personally own a gun, and 13% say the gun or guns in their home are owned by someone else. These figures are not significantly different from the 2012 General Social Survey estimates that 34% of households have guns, and 22% of individuals own a gun.
http://www.people-press.org/2013/03/12/section-3-gun-ownership-trends-and-demographics/
In our {Pew} Dec 1993 survey, 45% reported having a gun in their household; in early 1994, the GSS found 44% saying they had a gun in their home.
A January 2013 Pew Research Center survey found 33% saying they had a gun, rifle or pistol in their home,
as did 34% in the 2012 wave of the General Social Survey.
I have to take pew & gss results over yours, despite your name. Total gun owners est'd 80 million.
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