Is it like collecting baseball cards for them? Or is there another reason (apart from fear) for accumulating so many death tools?

I wonder what the median number of guns is. I'm sure there are a few who are radically skewing the average.

Why would anyone need to own 8 guns? I only have one and plan to purchase a second, sometime in the future...since I only have two hands!

If I'm going to stock up...it'll be ammunition!!!

Not all the guns criminals have are stolen. There can be a tidy profit in straw purchases. The first place to start looking are at those gunners that think the 2nd amendment is absolute and it means everyone has a right to own firearms.

My number tripled due to family members passing away and leaving the firearms to me. The same thing applies to my uncle.

Depending on one's activities, eight is barely enough to compete in only two forms of popular competitive shooting. Even modest collectors will easily have more than that. Those who only use firearms for hunting could pretty easily exceed that number. Then account for truly serious collectors and the numbers and get quite large very quickly.

While straw purchases do indeed take place, I think the numbers are over-estimated and likely do not enter into such surveys as this, as I think a straw purchaser is unlikely to admit any ownership to an unknown party as a part of a survey. For that matter, I believe that a number of owners would be unlikely to answer in the affirmative to such survey questions. This could certainly skew the numbers.

Personally, I'm not concerned with how many guns a person owns. However, I am very concerned with how the guns are stored and who has access to them.

It might be militia members who are skewing the average so much. They think that they need to have enough guns not only for themselves, but also to arm their friends and neighbors who scoffed at them BEFORE the revolution kicked off. No better way to say "I told you so" than to snark as you arm your liberal brother-in-law.

moreso due to new gun owners (the ephilosphy of gun-owning expanding) or simply people with guns just getting more guns?

What's the numbers on the total guns in the US over the same period. If it has merely doubled, this would suggest to me that there not more GUN-OWNERS... just more guns.

Using Illinois as an example, I have seen information showing that the number of FOIDs (Firearm Owner Indentification) is steadily increasing. Once you have one, I believe periodic renewal is required, but that is tracked separately.

I also see a lot of new owners/buyers at local ranges and gun shops. Then consider that current owners are not much different from other product enthusiasts; as new products are introduced, many will be interested in upgrading or adding to their current inventory.

And, as I mentioned in my previous post, there are a variety of activities that require multiple firearms for participation. Some shooting competitions can easily require as many as four guns to compete across the entire event.

Once again, I think the number of guns that any individual owns is pretty useless information. How those guns are stored has much more importance to everyone concerned.