Another question of where to find gun owner information

[SuperMoose]

Hey again everyone,
Its getting to be the end of my semester and I need to start doing research for my cultural geography class in order to write my paper and have a presentation for class. My topic was to look at gun owners in america, I might narrow the scope to Pennsylvanian's only since that might be a bit easier to do. However, I wanted to investigate the age demographic of gun owners, maybe something like 18-25, 26-33, etc.., the area they resides (urban or rural), type of firearm (pistol, rifle, shotgun), and why they were a gun owner (hunter, self defense, competition). I was going to start the beginning of the paper by giving my interpretation of the Second Amendment and try to show the origin of gun ownership in America and how it has evolved to its current form. My question is where would I look to obtain some of this information. I have a feeling the NRA and Sheriffs offices aren't going to give up information that would help me compile such statistics. Anyone have any thoughts other than a poll on here?

Thanks

[Xringshooter]

The Sheriffs offices may or may not help you but I would definitely contact the NRA. They typically will help people that are researching info and stats. Oh, also go to the PSP website, they have various firearms stats also.

On the other info you might want to gather from the PaFOA members, if your up to it build a spreadsheet or database with what you want to know and then have people respond (age, urban/suburban/rural, type of gun, why do they own, etc, etc). These basically are one word answers and you will probably find that some of the answers are multiple (ie. my demographics: 55, suburban, rifles, handguns, shotguns, protection, hunting, competition, collecting, NRA, PaFOA, RKBA member). You could even throw everything into a database and build your stats from that.

[PA Rifleman]

... I have a feeling the NRA and Sheriffs offices aren't going to give up information that would help me compile such statistics. Anyone have any thoughts other than a poll on here?

Thanks

The CCW license statistics for Chester County appeared in the Daily Lack of News (misspelling intentional*) a few years ago, but fortunately omitted licensee details. Try calling the Sheriff's office or the DLN. Be certain to point out you need stats, not personal info.

* Correct spelling is Daily Local News, a local delivery service that provides low-quality oily newsprint daily ideally suited for starting the fireplace, lining pet cages, etc.

[ungawa]

There are guns in more than half the homes in the US. It's probably similar to the demographics of people who drink water. Still, it'll get you through the class and I'm sure you'll come across something interesting.