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California Saw Huge Increase in Gun Ownership Over Last Decade Despite Strict Gun Laws
Despite some of the nation's toughest laws, the number of gun owners in California has more than doubled over the past ten years, according to new data released Friday by the state Department of Justice.
The state of California maintains a one-of-a-kind database of known gun owners, the Armed and Prohibited Persons System (APPS). APPS combines data on firearm transactions from two different state sources, the Dealer Record of Sale (DROS) database which tracks all transfers made by gun dealers and the Automated Firearms System (AFS) which includes the subset of guns the state requires to be registered, to compile a list of all individuals who legally purchased or were transferred a firearm in California.
Operated continuously since 2006, the program's goal is to identify and seize the weapons of individuals prohibited from owning a gun under state law.
Every year, the California Department of Justice provides a report to the state legislature documenting the number of individuals who have had their guns reclaimed using APPS. That report also makes public the number of individuals actually in APPS, a rough measure of the total number of gun owners in California.
What those data show is that, as of 2019, there are more than 2.5 million gun owners in California, compared to fewer than a million in 2008. That figure translates to about 8 percent of Californian adults owning guns, compared to 3.4 percent in 2008—a more than two-fold increase, even when adjusting for population.
It is likely that this figure actually undercounts the total number of gun owners in California. The APPS tracks ownership in large part on the basis of annual sales recorded in the California DROS database—full figures for which are only available dating to the 1990s—and does not necessarily include all private sales.
It is possible that the increase above reflects an increase in effectiveness of surveillance by the California DOJ, meaning that it may not reflect an increase in the real population of gun owners. However, there is reason to think otherwise: Data from the DROS database indicate a substantial increase in the total number of annual gun sales, tracking the trend in gun owners.
The overall increase in ownership is surprising for two reasons. Firstly, it shows a steady increase in gun ownership even as California is widely regarded to have some of the toughest gun laws in the nation. Laws prohibit ownership of essentially all "assault weapons," ban the sale of many popular handguns, require owners to take a written test to receive a license to purchase a handgun, and permit police to deny a concealed carry permit at their discretion.
Secondly, the spike in California gun ownership runs counter to trends in gun ownership identified in national surveys. Data from Gallup show that the percentage of Americans who have a gun in their home has remained roughly flat over the past ten years—around 40 percent of Americans have a gun in their home. A smaller percentage, around 30 percent, identify themselves as gun owners.
Report: California Saw Huge Increase in Gun Ownership Over Last Decade Despite Strict Gun Laws
Despite some of the nation's toughest laws, the number of gun owners in California has more than doubled over the past ten years, according to new data released Friday by the state Department of Justice.
The state of California maintains a one-of-a-kind database of known gun owners, the Armed and Prohibited Persons System (APPS). APPS combines data on firearm transactions from two different state sources, the Dealer Record of Sale (DROS) database which tracks all transfers made by gun dealers and the Automated Firearms System (AFS) which includes the subset of guns the state requires to be registered, to compile a list of all individuals who legally purchased or were transferred a firearm in California.
Operated continuously since 2006, the program's goal is to identify and seize the weapons of individuals prohibited from owning a gun under state law.
Every year, the California Department of Justice provides a report to the state legislature documenting the number of individuals who have had their guns reclaimed using APPS. That report also makes public the number of individuals actually in APPS, a rough measure of the total number of gun owners in California.
What those data show is that, as of 2019, there are more than 2.5 million gun owners in California, compared to fewer than a million in 2008. That figure translates to about 8 percent of Californian adults owning guns, compared to 3.4 percent in 2008—a more than two-fold increase, even when adjusting for population.
It is likely that this figure actually undercounts the total number of gun owners in California. The APPS tracks ownership in large part on the basis of annual sales recorded in the California DROS database—full figures for which are only available dating to the 1990s—and does not necessarily include all private sales.
It is possible that the increase above reflects an increase in effectiveness of surveillance by the California DOJ, meaning that it may not reflect an increase in the real population of gun owners. However, there is reason to think otherwise: Data from the DROS database indicate a substantial increase in the total number of annual gun sales, tracking the trend in gun owners.
The overall increase in ownership is surprising for two reasons. Firstly, it shows a steady increase in gun ownership even as California is widely regarded to have some of the toughest gun laws in the nation. Laws prohibit ownership of essentially all "assault weapons," ban the sale of many popular handguns, require owners to take a written test to receive a license to purchase a handgun, and permit police to deny a concealed carry permit at their discretion.
Secondly, the spike in California gun ownership runs counter to trends in gun ownership identified in national surveys. Data from Gallup show that the percentage of Americans who have a gun in their home has remained roughly flat over the past ten years—around 40 percent of Americans have a gun in their home. A smaller percentage, around 30 percent, identify themselves as gun owners.
Report: California Saw Huge Increase in Gun Ownership Over Last Decade Despite Strict Gun Laws
