*** Quoting John Donohue from a message to Sheila King ***
 SK> guess I could count the security personel who are employed at our
 SK> school. But I wasn't counting mere acquaintances when I made that
 SK> remark. I meant people whom I really know and consider to be among my
 SK> circle of friends.
JD> OK, that cuts down the number of prospects
 SK> It's just that, if over half the households in the U.S. have a gun, I
 SK> would think that even without my running such a survey and search, I
 SK> would have discovered through everyday conversation that I know someone
 SK> who owns a gun.
JD> Not necessarily. To the average gun owner, it's just another tool.  
JD> There are many people whom I count as friends, who know me pretty 
JD> well. Hardly any of them know that I own a chainsaw or an automotive 
Most of my neighbors probably don't realize that I own a computer.  Those 
that do probably don't realize that I have four of them networked together to 
form my BBS system.
Another factor that comes into play is your location.  In this area, a rather 
large number of teen-age and adult males disappear on the first day of Deer 
season.  You could infer from this that the majority of those men own at 
least one firearm.
To gain a better idea of firearm ownership in a given area, you could contact 
the issuing authority for hunting licenses for number of licenses sold in 
your area.  You could also contact your local law enforcement agency for the 
number of Concealed carry permits issued for your area.  This would give you 
a decent idea of how many people actually leave their house with a gun.  This 
would not, however, give a count of the number of people who have a pistol in 
the dresser drawer, stuck in the attic, etc.
My ownership of firearms isn't something that normally comes up in casual 
conversation with others.  It is not a subject that I normally bring up, 
primarily due to a desire to not tempt would-be burglers to target my home.
For the record, my firearms are kept locked at all times in a safe 
constructed for that purpose.  Said safe is bolted from the inside to the 
wall studs in a location too small to use a pry bar in.
Kevin
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