You Sure You Really Want to Do That?

While no one knows precisely how many Americans own guns, the figure that is most consistent in surveys is 30 percent.

The number is likely higher because there are citizens such as myself who choose not to discuss personal armaments, or lack thereof, with people we don’t know. So let’s say a third of Americans, or roughly 110 million, own guns.

The Small Arms Survey produced a study in 2018 that concluded Americans own more than 40 percent of the estimated one billion small arms in civilian hands globally. And that was before record-breaking gun sales in the U.S. in recent months. Americans a...