Not surprising that gun ownership has gone down as its a major pain in the ass to get a gun in some states. In my state it's virtually impossible in the major metropolitan areas to own a gun without being politically connected. Similarly in the burbs and towns YMMV may vary depending on the local police chief.

I would love to own a gun, multiple guns, but some states make it incredibly difficult.

> "Household gun ownership went from 45% in 1980 down to 32% in 2016"

Gallup seems to indicate that gun ownership in the United States rose back to 42% by 2020?

https://news.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.aspx

> Household gun ownership went from 45% in 1980 down to 32% in 2016:

And yet sales of new guns are up massively. Can you explain this discrepancy?

Perhaps a better interpretation is that the number of households who will admit owning a gun to a stranger who calls them on the phone went from 45% to 32%.

Someone's buying all those guns, dude. It sure isn't collectors who are buying millions of cheap Hi-Points and Kel-Tecs.

> And yet sales of new guns are up massively. Can you explain this discrepancy?

I do so in my post:

> Fewer people own guns nowadays generally, with only one-third only a single gun, about one-third owning 2-4, and one-third owning >5:

> * https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/06/22/the-dem...

> Seems that only a minority of American (households) own firearms, and the ones that do may simply make more noise than the (silent) majority that do not.

Ownership is more concentrated:

> But America’s gun super-owners, have amassed huge collections. Just 3% of American adults own a collective 133m firearms – half of America’s total gun stock. These owners have collections that range from eight to 140 guns, the 2015 study found. Their average collection: 17 guns each.

* https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/15/the-gun-numb...

> Some are collectors with elaborately curated selections of historical firearms, while others are ‘just accumulators’. They say it is surprisingly easy to get to 17

* https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/20/gun-ownershi...

> Fewer people own guns nowadays generally, with only one-third only a single gun, about one-third owning 2-4, and one-third owning >5:

Yeah, sorry, serious collectors aren't going out and buying junky Hi-Points and Kel-Tecs. They just aren't.

Which strikes you as more likely:

1) a serious gun collector buys multiple $200 hunks-of-junk.

2) people lie when a stranger calls and asks them about a politically charged topic?

> while others are ‘just accumulators’. They say it is surprisingly easy to get to 17

* https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/20/gun-ownershi...

Polling gun owners about their weapons is extremely difficult, especially in the current age when one you can be ostracized for your beliefs. Random polling won't give you accurate results as many respondents will, fearing some sort of political trap, deny they own firearms at all, or simply decline to answer.

I won't argue the data, which I don't have a study to refute, but I wish we could know the change since 2016.