It is well known that there are something like 250 million guns owned by 80 million people in the US. But Mike drives thru a few states, meets a few people, doesn't see any obvious bulges on anyone's waists and from that comes to the conclusion that ownership is "not commonplace". The only science involved with that leap is the psychology of delusional thinking.
My response
Let's examine that "250 million guns owned by 80 million people in the US" for a moment, shall we? It's the height of dishonesty for you to quote those numbers as support for your side of the argument, here's why. Most of the 80 million couldn't care less about the issue one way or the other. They own guns, sure, but many of them don't even know where they are (in the attic, basement, one of the closets). Others keep one handy for emergencies but are totally apathetic about gun rights. That's why the NRA has so few members.
Of the remaining, a good portion actually agree with the gun control folks. You certainly can't count them. They are gun owners who feel like we do about background checks and assault weapons, you know the type.
What's left is a few million who run the spectrum from mild believers in the 2A to fanatical gun-rights activists. If you isolate the ones who feel like you do, passionate enough to comment on pro-gun blogs, what would it be, maybe 100,000, maybe half-a-million.
That's why my observations in the States are what I said: "the overall impression was that gun ownership is not the commonplace way of life we often hear from the gun-rights crowd."
