As many guns as there are people in America

This story is about human gun deaths, but think about the tens of millions of animals killed or injured by gun lovers each year.
Freedom States Alliance

With over 30,000 gun deaths in the U.S. each year -- including the 4 police officers shot and killed in Oakland, California on March 21st -- an appropriate response to this carnage should be bold and comprehensive policies to prevent further homicides, suicides and unintentional injuries. However, what typically happens in the wake of high-profile shootings is meager attempts to promote gun-lobby "palatable" remedies such as harsher penalties for criminals caught with guns.
Meanwhile, little is being done to address the elephant in the room: the 280 million guns already in circulation and how to reduce this staggering number. Although there are some good gun laws in place, thanks in large part to the tireless efforts of gun violence prevention advocates and survivors, there has been little success in addressing the sheer volume of guns.
Although the percentage of American households reporting gun ownership has declined significantly in recent years to 34.5%, according to the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), the total number of guns in private hands has dramatically increased in the past 40 years. In other words, there is an incredible and unequal distribution of firearms: most gun owners own multiple firearms and some have huge stockpiles and arsenals.
While it would be nice to believe that all of these weapons are safely tucked away in responsible gun owners' homes, there are lost and stolen guns, as well as an untold number of illegal guns in criminal hands to take into account. Also, because only two states have bans on carrying concealed weapons, there's a good chance the next time you go grocery shopping or visit a museum with your family someone in line next to you could be carrying a weapon.
Guns Rarely Die
280 million guns, in a nation of 306 million people, is a very big number. In fact, it is more than a third of all the guns owned worldwide. And, unlike other consumer products-such as toasters or hair dryers-guns rarely break, are durable, and endure very little wear and tear. They also rarely get thrown away. Even Gary Kleck, a criminologist who supports the gun lobby agenda, admitted in his book Point Blank, that the average gun is only fired 24 times each year and can last over 400 years.
Additionally, it is estimated that only a small fraction of the 280 million guns in civilian hands are taken out of circulation each year through buybacks, meltdowns or confiscation by law enforcement authorities. In fact, some law enforcement agencies actually re-sell confiscated crime guns at auctions thereby putting them back in circulation. In appears that comparatively few guns are ever destroyed or permanently taken out of circulation. To top it off, firearms are virtually the only consumer product exempt from health and safety standards despite their inherent lethality.
Thanks to the gun industry's mass production and mass marketing of firearms, approximately 4.5 million new guns are bought in the United States annually -- more than half of the 8 million manufactured worldwide. Clearly we have an urgent problem that is not going away anytime soon.

Entire editorial here.