What states have the most gun owners?

Red states, especially those with mostly rural populations, are much more likely to have high rates of gun ownership, but some blue states are surprisingly trending upward. The reason may shock you.

The Visual Capitalist reports that the United States has more guns than people, with nearly 400 million firearms owned by civilians.

The outlet recently came out with an interesting map in which it ranks states by the highest percentage of gun ownership. It’s based on data from the Pew Research Center compiled by Data Pandas as of 2024.

Montana tops the list of the states with the highest percentage of gun ownership, with 66.3% of the adult population owning firearms. The state has some of the most relaxed gun control laws in America. No state permit is required to purchase or possess a rifle, shotgun or handgun.

Montana is followed on the list by its neighbor, Wyoming, where 66.2% of adults own a firearm. Alaska comes in third, with 64.5%, followed by Idaho (60.1%), West Virginia (58.5%) and Arkansas (57.2%).

The top 10 gun-owning states are rounded out by Mississippi, Alabama, South Dakota and North Dakota.

On the flip side, New Jersey and Massachusetts share the lowest gun ownership rat…