There are more guns in the United States than people.

As of May 2026, comparing the estimated number of civilian-held firearms in the US with the US population (about 340 million). True: credible recent estimates (e.g. Small Arms Survey, which estimated about 393 million in 2017, or later industry or academic estimates) put civilian guns above the population. Mostly true: estimates are close to or roughly equal to the population, with the main ones slightly above. Mixed: credible estimates differ, some above the population and some below. Mostly false: most credible estimates put the number somewhat below the population. False: credible estimates put it clearly below the population.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 How many guns are on the streets in the United States? PolitiFact · 9 September 2019

   “The Small Arms Survey, an operation at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, found that there were more than 393 million civilian firearms holdings in the United States, as of June 2018.”

2. E2 How many guns are on the streets in the United States? PolitiFact · 9 September 2019

   “At the end of June 2018, when the estimate was published, the United States’ population was roughly 327 million. Today, it is more than 329 million.”

3. E3 How many guns are on the streets in the United States? PolitiFact · 9 September 2019

   “A 2012 report from the Congressional Research Service estimated that in 1996 there were 242 million civilian-owned firearms; in 2000 there were 259 million; and in 2009 there were 310 million.”

4. E4 How many guns are on the streets in the United States? PolitiFact · 9 September 2019

   “But a spokesman for the agency said it does not have an aggregate figure for the total number of guns in circulation.”

PolitiFact reports the Small Arms Survey estimate of more than 393 million civilian firearms in the US as of June 2018 (E1), when the population was about 327 million (E2). The criteria name this estimate as credible, and it is clearly above both that figure and the roughly 340 million US population in 2026. The lower Congressional Research Service figures date from 1996–2009 and are not recent estimates (E3). A spokesman for the agency said it does not have an aggregate figure for the total number of guns in circulation (E4).