New Study Says Montana Has More Guns Than Some Countries
A new map published by the site Movoto, compares gun ownership in every state to nations across the world. Citing data that estimates a national average of 88.8 guns per 100 people, they concluded that there are more guns in the state of Montana than the entire country of Libya.
While that may be true, the Movoto article, which estimates just under 900,000 guns in the state, doesn’t accurately represent the real number of firearms in Montana.
According to a poll conducted by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, nearly 58 percent of households in Montana own at least one gun. That percentage ranks among the highest rates of gun ownership in the country.
So, if nearly six out every ten homes in the state has a gun, just how many guns are there in Montana? Research suggests that, among American households who do have guns, there are approximately three guns per person.
Assuming that number is just as high in Montana, which is a conservative estimate, that would put the approximate number of firearms in Montana at nearly 1.8 million, or roughly 1.8 guns for every man, woman and child in the state.
According to the Movoto map, that would mean there are more guns in the state of Montana than the countries of Libya, Honduras and Hungary combined.