ATF: 423M guns in America, 1.2 per person, 8.1B rounds of ammunition a year

America’s love affair with guns is only getting stronger. New federal data shows that there are 422.9 million firearms in circulation, or about 1.2 guns for every person in the country. What’s more, despite years of criticism of modern “assault-style” rifles such as the AR-15 and AK-47, there are a record 17.7 million in private hands, proving that it is the most popular gun around. And last year alone, the arms industry produced 8.1 billion rounds of ammunition. The figures are from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and were crunched by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the gun industry trade group...MORE