Who puts more guns on the street, cops or citizens?

[GigaBuist]

I sincerely hope it's citizens by a wide margin. That could be important one day.

Maybe. The US maintains 300 police for every 1 citizen.  That's 0.3% of the population being a police officer.  CCW numbers vary by state but last I checked we we were around 2-6% depending on where you went.  Now the number of people who ACTUALLY carry is lower than that of those licensed but you would have to assume about 10% of those licensed actually carry to put CCW on par with LE numbers.

As to total number of guns out there... the civilian population of the US dwarfs everybody.

[Perd Hapley]

I sincerely hope it's citizens by a wide margin. That could be important one day.

When the OP said, "on the street," he seems to be referring to guns that are being carried in public - not just the number of guns owned by either group. I think truck/trunk guns also count, FWIW.

[Scout26]

Maybe. The US maintains 300 police for every 1 citizen. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YvAYIJSSZY


While I feel you may not be too far off the mark    But I think Giga, you need a break or something.  I think your mathimacating is a bit off there.....

[Regolith]

Maybe. The US maintains 300 police for every 1 citizen. 

I'm pretty sure there aren't enough people on the planet for that...

[dogmush]

I'm pretty sure there aren't enough people on the planet for that...

I'm pretty sure it's the goal of some politicians.

[TommyGunn]

Maybe. The US maintains 300 police for every 1 citizen. 

I'm pretty sure there aren't enough people on the planet for that...

I suspect he means that there is 1 policeman for every 300 people....I don't know if the numbers match up but it seems more reasonable than being over-run by policemen ....

[GigaBuist]

I suspect he means that there is 1 policeman for every 300 people....I don't know if the numbers match up but it seems more reasonable than being over-run by policemen ....

Yeah, I typed out it backwards.

[Mannlicher]

you guys must live in a different part of America than I do.  Around here, probably 10 to 15% of the folks are packing.   Across America, there are around 700K cops, and certainly not all of them on the street at one time.  Not more than a quarter of that, would be my guess.
There are of course, many more Citizens out and about.

[Perd Hapley]

you guys must live in a different part of America than I do.  Around here, probably 10 to 15% of the folks are packing.   Across America, there are around 700K cops, and certainly not all of them on the street at one time.  Not more than a quarter of that, would be my guess.
There are of course, many more Citizens out and about.

We're all very proud of wherever it is you live, but 15% of your community does little to bring up the numbers in the rest of the country.

[Ben]

Then, in cities where they need cops to carry because citizens aren't allowed, we have cops who can't carry because they flunk their marksmanship tests. :)

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/11/01/sheriff-at-center-sanctuary-city-debate-illegal-immigrant-allegedly-killing-san/?intcmp=hpbt3

[Perd Hapley]

Then, in cities where they need cops to carry because citizens aren't allowed, we have cops who can't carry because they flunk their marksmanship tests. :)

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/11/01/sheriff-at-center-sanctuary-city-debate-illegal-immigrant-allegedly-killing-san/?intcmp=hpbt3

[San Francisco Sheriff] Mirkarimi has endured a series of personal and official embarrassments, including having his driver's license briefly suspended and flunking a marksmanship test that prevents him from carrying a service weapon.

 

The article also says he's a founder of the California Green Party. Sounds about right.

[Boomhauer]

Well of course San Francisco would have a sheriff who is a limp wristed pansy ass far left liberal who got to the top through affirmative action and couldn't pass a firearms qualification test nor pilot his Prius with a basic level of competency.