USA: America's Gun Business, By the Numbers - by Ben Popkin

Before a gun can be used to hunt, for protection, or in a mass school shooting like Thursday's tragic killing at Umpqua Community College that left 10 dead, it must be bought. That one sale is a single dot in a multibillion-dollar industry, one that is coming under new scrutiny during the post-massacre gun control debate. Here's a by the numbers breakdown.

$13.5 billion

Annual revenue of gun and ammunition manufacturing industry, with a $1.5 billion profit. (IBIS World)

$3.1 billion

Annual revenue of gun and ammunition stores, with a $478.4 million profit. (IBIS World)

10,847,792

The number of pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns and miscellaneous firearms manufactured in the U.S. in 2013, the latest full year available. That's 4,441,726 pistols, 725,282 revolvers, 3,979,570 rifles, 1,203,072 shotguns, and 495,142 miscellaneous firearms. (ATF)

4%

Percentage of the above guns which were exported. Of those 10.84 million guns, 10,413,880 stay in America. (ATF)

270-310 million

Estimated of number of guns in the U.S. (Pew Research Center)

263,223

Number of full-time jobs related to the firearm industry, up from 209,750 in 2012. (NSSF)

$42.9 billion

Estimated overall economic impact of the firearms and ammo industry in the U.S. (NSSF)

20,968,273

Number of firearm background checks initiated in 2014. Because a background check is required before a gun is bought, this numbers gives insight into gun sale trends. However, just because a background check was initiated doesn't mean a gun was purchased. (FBI)

9,138,123

Number of firearm background checks in 1999. (FBI)

5

Average number of firearms owned by a gun owner once you toss out the top 3% of gun owners who own more than 25 guns. (Journal of Injury Prevention)

31%

Percentage of American households with guns. (NORC)

29%, 43.7%, 55.9%

Adults living in a household with firearms: percentage by suburbs, other urban areas, and rural counties, respectively. (NORC)

60%

Percentage of Americans who say personal safety/protection is the reason they own a gun. (Gallup)

$229 billion

The cost of fatal and non-fatal gun violence to the U.S. in 2012, representing 1.4% of total gross domestic product.(Mother Jones)

Read more: America's Gun Business, By the Numbers - NBC News

Gun Industry: 10 things the gun industry won’t tell you - by Catey Hill

n the U.S., there are now somewhere between 270 million and 310 million guns, according to the Pew Research Center — that’s almost one gun for every person in the nation. Judges and legislators across the political spectrum recognize the constitutional right to bear arms. And gun and ammunition sales to private citizens are a significant part of a nearly $15 billion industry that’s seeing plenty of growth: Recently, for example, Smith & Wesson SWHC +1.53%  reported that its fiscal third-quarter profit rose to $20.8 million, up from $14.6 million a year ago .

What makes the gun industry so controversial, of course, is the ever-shifting debate about how to reconcile gun rights and public safety. Each year in this country, more than 31,000 people are killed by firearms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate — roughly 85 people per day. The U.S. has one of the highest rates of civilian gun ownership and one of the highest rates of firearm-related deaths per capita across developed countries around the world. 

What’s more, a growing body of research suggests that simply owning a gun is correlated with an increased likelihood that you’ll be a victim of violence. A study published this January in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that people who live in homes with firearms are over three times as likely to die from suicide and two times as likely to be a victim of homicide as those who don’t have access to firearms.

The study analyzed the results of 16 other studies and found that in all but one, access to guns was linked to a higher probability of murder or suicide. In another study published in the journal Aggression and Violent Behavior, two Harvard researchers conducted a review of 26 studies on gun availability and homicide in multiple countries and found that most of them “are consistent with the hypothesis that higher levels of gun prevalence substantially increase the homicide rate.” 

To be sure, the kinds of correlations shown in big social studies aren’t the same thing as a proven cause-and-effect relationship. Many in the gun industry — including some gun and ammunition manufacturers and organizations of gun owners like the National Rifle Association, “the premier firearms education organization in the world” — disagree sharply with conclusions like these. And Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesperson for the National Rifle Association, points to a different correlation: While gun ownership is now at an all-time high, the murder rate (in total, not just from firearms) is near an all-time low. 

Still, many gun owners say that having a gun in the house makes them feel safe and empowered to confront threats. That sentiment was summed up by NRA executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre, who said in an interview following the Newtown, Conn., elementary school shooting in December 2012 that “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” "Tell me another one - What BS"

Note EU-Digest: "whatever way you look at it - a gun is a weapon which kills and the word "protection" does not fit in this context. Protection from someone else with a gun just means more guns and more violence." 

Read more: 10 things the gun industry won’t tell you - 10 things - MarketWatch