AHC: Non-US High gun ownership country.

Strategos

Banned
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_guns_per_capita_by_country

Switzerland is about half per capita of the US and Israel is *way* down there. (behind Portugal!?!)

Randy

Yeah, but in Switzerland, most gun owners only own one gun. In America, its fairly common to own 3 or more per household and sometimes even per person.


Brazil with a gun culture. Yeah that works. Start ot with requiring all men to have a rifle and giving women a discount for buying pistols...
 
I may be wrong with this part, some if not all states in the US only require you to have a licince if your gun, of any type, is less than 100 years old. If this is the case of per captia yes the US still maybe the top, no other country will be close and no way could they get anywahere near the US.
Now were the hell is my M1911?
U.S. states do not require a license of any sort to own a firearm except machine guns and cannon, although one is usually required to carry a concealed weapon. (Except in Vermont, where any law-abiding citizen can carry concealed without a permit.) Sales through a commercial firearms dealer require an FBI background check, which takes a few minutes, and some places require a waiting period for handguns. There really is a mishmash of firearms laws in the United States, varying widely from state to state and even within states. In Nevada, for example, handguns must be registered in Clark County (Las Vegas) but not in the rest of the state. New York City, Chicago, and several other cities essentially ban handgun ownership, while their states have entirely different laws.

Antique firearms are a different class altogether, and you really should visit the ATF website for guidance on that.

Re: the OP, create a country where firearms were widely used in its early years for hunting and defense against hostile aboriginals or a colonial power, yet went on to have a history of relatively peaceful and democratic internal politics. Mexico, for example, suffered a series of revolutions and internal conflicts followed by authoritarian governments right into the first third of the 20th Century. Authoritarians fear armed populations. (Generally speaking -- Saddam Hussein's Iraq had a widely armed population, although that might have somehow been limited to those of his own brand of Islam.)

As an alternative, have a country with a history of invasions by outside powers and a historically weak central government. Afghanistan is the perfect example of this, and I would not be surprised if a comprehensive survey of gun ownership there revealed a higher percentage of armed adults than the U.S., even before the Soviet and U.S. incursions.

Pakistan might also be a leader. The gun markets of Karachi were famous for the wide variety of weapons available. A friend who officered aboard an oil tanker in the 1970s, when piracy was a major problem around Indonesia, told me about accompanying his captain on a buying expedition there. They bought AK-47s, two .50-caliber machine guns, and other weaponry that were stored in the ship's arms locker.

Both of those countries already had deeply entrenched gun cultures in the 1800s, so no need to create a new country. That said, either Columbia or Venezuela might qualify if their fight for independence led to long-term internal stability and independence combined with a fear of outside intervention by neighbors or a regional power (see U.S.). Have them see the need for a Swiss-style militia to compensate for the inability to support the expense of a large standing army.
 
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