Trend: The handgun share has risen steadily. The 1994 NSPOF survey found 36% rifles, 34% handguns, 26% shotguns, and 4% other types of long guns. The 2004 survey put it at 40 percent. New production now skews further toward handguns: handguns accounted for 53 percent of firearm production in 2024, and until the early 1990s, rifles and shotguns routinely outnumbered pistols and revolvers. (Gun violence in the United States +3)

The US is unusual. Handguns make up about 44–45% of its civilian gun stock, while comparable wealthy countries with registry data have far lower shares, typically single digits.

So roughly 50% of the guns in the US are handguns. Far higher than other civilised countries.

I ask again, do you think yanks are buying handguns to go hunting?