NORFOLK, Va. (WVEC) -- American civilians are leading the world when it comes to owning small firearms.
A professor at Old Dominion University is behind new gun research that’s catching nationwide attention. ODU's Senior Lecturer, Aaron Karp presented the research to the U.N. on Monday.
He is part of a group called the Small Arms Survey, an independent research institute based in Geneva, Switzerland. Small Arms Survey researchers don’t push for disarmament, but simply to provide information. They classify a small firearm as a range of weapons. Those include factory made handguns, rifles, shotguns and in some countries machine guns.
For 10 years, beginning in 2007 to 2017, the Small Arms Survey crunched the numbers.
Karp said researchers relied on surveys, and registration data to gather its statistics. The results Karp and the group found show U. S. civilians own more small arms than people in the other top 25 countries combined.
"The United States is overwhelming. It's the elephant in the room," said Karp.
The organization’s researchers found that there are more than 1 billion legally and illegally owned firearms in the world today, and American civilians own at least 393 million of those guns.
That’s in comparison to the second runner-up, India with at least 71-million civilian-owned guns; and the third runner-up, China, with at least 49-million civilian-owned guns.
"The American firearms statistic above all shows you just how unusual this country is,” said Karp.
Bob's Gun Shop owner, Robert Marcus said those numbers make sense for what he sees at his Norfolk store. Home to the biggest navy community.
"At the end of the day people realize that they are responsible for their own self-defense,” said Marcus. "There is a very valid reason [for the civilian gun ownership.] We have military spouses who were here and their significant are away for six months at a time, and we see a lot of purchasing just for that."
Karp said the research isn’t perfect, but it is the first of its kind.
"This is actually the resource now,” said Karp. "There is enormous room for more work, more detailed work."
He hopes every country can use the information to expand upon the research.
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