In Episode 3 of “Light Over Heat,” I mentioned a 2021 National Firearms Survey by Georgetown University Professor William English. In Episode 6, I discuss a couple of interesting findings in that survey.
Among the unique qualities of Professor English’s National Firearms Survey is that he asked respondents whether they owned AR-15 style rifles or large-capacity magazines (holding 10+ rounds of ammunition).
English finds that 30.2% of gun owners have owned AR-15 style rifles (around 25 million people), and 48% have owned 10+ capacity magazines (approximately 40 million people).
(From Episode 2 of “Light Over Heat,” remember these are very conservative estimates of ownership rates given the underreporting of gun ownership in surveys.)
Beyond simply being interesting empirically, these findings are relevant to the legal question of whether certain firearms are in “common use.”
Please surf over to my “Light Over Heat” YouTube channel and SUBSCRIBE to follow, RING THE BELL to receive notifications, and SHARE so others can learn about this work.
Gun Culture 2.0 
“large-capacity magazines (holding 10+ rounds of ammunition)” – That’s not a correct definition in the real world outside of antigun politics. 20 and 30 round magazines are standard capacity, while 10 round magazines are low capacity magazines intended for bench shooting. 40 round magazines or larger drums are large capacity.
LikeLike
Fair point and I agree, but in the real world of politics and law, the 10+ round definition does hold some sway, hence William English using that in his survey. Someone mentioned to me that CZ describes their 10 round magazines as “low capacity.”
LikeLiked by 2 people
AR-15’s were fairly uncommon 25 years ago. Now that they are “commonly” owned, they have better protection under the constitution. This is one self fulfilling prophesy I rather like!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Would be great to have some solid comparative data on ownership, but I think you are correct to say in 1994, not very common. In 2022, pretty common!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pre- 1988 when the first “assault weapon” language ban was proposed, there were under 2M AR type clones owned in America. Upon the launch of proposed bans which the media ballyhooed the surge in buying (what might become unattainable) was far better than any promotional advertising campaign that any manufacturer was financially capable of creating.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Near the end of 2020, the NSSF estimated 19.8 million AR style rifles in the US since 1990. By your accounting, to that we could add around 2M, is that right? So, about 20 million total? https://www.nssf.org/articles/nssf-releases-most-recent-firearm-production-figures/
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] 2021 National Firearms Survey estimates that over 11M own nearly 25M AR-15 styles rifles. Georgetown University Professor William English finds that 30.2% of gun owners have owned AR-15 style rifles (around 25 million […]
LikeLike