A new study suggests gun stores per capita in Greater Hartford increased 7.6 percent since 2010, which would be the 9th lowest change of all metropolitan areas with populations greater than one million.
The study by BuildZoom, a home improvement website, said the number of gun stores per capita increased 14 percent nationally from 2010 to 2015. Providence, Rhode Island, saw an increase of 4 percent while Boston saw a drop of 1.4 percent in the same time period.
The study makes the claim there are “a vast number of gun stores in the U.S.,” according to statistics it compiled from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It said there are more than five times as many gun stores as Starbucks locations, and four times as many gun stores as McDonald’s restaurants.
That’s not a statistic that bears out in Connecticut, at least. According to Trend CT, Connecticut has 500 Dunkin’ stores in the state compared to Starbucks’ 100. That is slightly less than the number of federal firearms licensed dealers in the state, which is 662, according to the website, FFLgundealers.net.
As of January 2010, there were 53,753 gun sellers in the U.S., which add up to 17.4 gun sellers for every 100,000 people. By December 2015 that number had jumped to 63,585, or more than 19.8 gun sellers per 100,000 people. That’s an increase of 13.8 percent in just under six years, according to BuildZoom.
The Chicago Tribune reported there are about 14,300 McDonald’s in the U.S. CNN reports there are 11,000 Starbucks locations nationally.
