[Lamplighter]

NY Times
SABRINA TAVERNISE and ROBERT GEBELOFF
3/9/13

Share of Homes With Guns Shows 4-Decade Decline

The share of American households with guns has declined over the past four decades,
a national survey shows, with some of the most surprising drops in the South and the Western mountain states,
where guns are deeply embedded in the culture.<snip>

The geographic patterns were some of the most surprising in the General Social Survey, researchers said.
Gun ownership in both the South and the mountain region,
which includes states like Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming,
dropped to less than 40 percent of households this decade, down from 65 percent in the 1970s.
The Northeast, where the household ownership rate is lowest, changed the least, at 22 percent this decade,
compared with 29 percent in the 1970s.

Age groups presented another twist. While household ownership of guns among elderly Americans
remained virtually unchanged from the 1970s to this decade at about 43 percent,
ownership among young Americans plummeted. Household gun ownership among Americans
under the age of 30 fell to 23 percent this decade
from 47 percent in the 1970s. The survey showed a similar decline for Americans ages 30 to 44.