Quote Originally Posted by basurero
Just wondered if, say, the average family would have a gun. I hear this is the norm in Amerika. I aslo hear that you can buy guns at Wallmart. I don't know how true this is however, it might just be all made up or completely exaggerated because people so love to bash America.
The average family has guns? I know the image of the US is sometimes of the "Wild West" with everyone having a gun in the bedroom. But to answer your question, no, not exactly -- there's alot of variation and probably a regional aspect to it as well. According to this, there are either 215 million or 258 million guns in America. http://www.nraila.org/Issues/FactShe...ad.aspx?ID=126
So if you consider there are ~300 million people in the US, then yes, statistically speaking the "average family" would in fact have a gun. In reality, however, I think you'd find it to be more evenly dispersed gun/no gun households. First and foremost, I'd say that guns are, in many cases, something that a person either owns in significant quantities or not at all. This isn't supposed to be a political snub at either side, but I've found that people I know will typically have several rifles and/or several shotguns (pistols are a different animal), not just a shotgun/rifle. Regional and urban/rural residence also is important. A person who lives in a rural area, say, is probably going to be far more likely to have a gun, since they are more sparsely populated, more likely to hunt/target shoot, or use them in case of a break-in or self-defense of some sort.

As for the statement regarding Wal-Mart, yes, it's true that you can buy guns at Wal-Mart (then again, name one thing you CANNOT buy at Wal-Mart -- I expect they'll be selling crack or babies in the near future ). It's not just like buying a can of tuna fish though -- you have to go through a federal screening process -- if you are a felony-convicted criminal or mentally ill, forget about it. Also, I believe that they do NOT sell any handguns, period -- just rifles and shotguns.

The bottom line is this: Americans, generally speaking, probably do own more guns than the average country, but it's not like every American is "packing heat." Wal-Mart does sell guns, but within the law.

Finally, I'd like to just conclude by saying that while I don't mean to cut anyone out or deny anyone the opportunity to add their opinion, this question is a) one that's highly politicized and may very well add to a flame war and b) one that's fairly off-topic, so we may want to just stop it here. I know that sounds hypocritical, and it probably is, but I was just trying to answer this question in the most neutral manner possible, b/c I thought it would be useful for basurero personally.