WASHINGTON, June 30 (UPI) -- A new study that attempts to categorize gun owners in the United States shows about a third of Americans, mostly married white men over the age of 55, owns at least one firearm.
The Columbia University study, one of many recently trying to pin down the number of gun owners in the United States, said a "social gun culture" is closely linked with ownership.
The survey of 4,000 people shows a stark difference of gun ownership per state, ranging from 5.2 percent in Delaware to 61.7 percent in Alaska.
"Gun ownership was 2.25-times greater among those reporting social gun culture than those who did not," researchers said. "Although notions of protection of one's family and property originally justified gun ownership, gun ownership is today sustained in public consciousness much more through calls to constitutionally enshrined social values, reinforced intermittently by outrage at efforts to limit widespread gun availability."
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In an effort to determine which came first, pro-gun culture or owning guns, researchers asked four questions that "assessed whether an individual's 'social circle thinks less of them if they did not own a gun', 'family thinks less of them not owning a gun', 'social life with family involves guns' and 'social life with friends involves guns'."
"In conclusion, we found a strong association between social gun culture and gun ownership. Gun cultures may need to be considered for public-health strategies that aim to change gun ownership in the USA," researchers wrote.
While there is a lot of emphasis on gun-related fatalities, it is important to pay attention to the survivors of gun violence, the study said. The findings show 33,636 people in the United States died and 84,258 were injured in 2013 due to gun violence.
"Firearm violence in the USA continues to be a major public health concern," the study said. "There is little question that the high prevalence of gun ownership in the USA contributes to the burden of firearm-related injury."
