GUNS AT A GLANCE: 40% OF ALL FIREARMS MADE IN AMERICA COME FROM THESE 3 COMPANIES

U.S. factories have produced more than 100 million firearms over the past 25 years – almost half of the roughly 270 million firearms estimated to be in the hands of U.S. civilians, according to Small Arms Survey, an independent research project located at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.

While the survey found 2,288 makers of civilian firearms operating in the U.S. from 1986-2010, more than 40% of those guns came from three key companies:

• Sturm, Ruger & Co. leads the U.S. firearms industry with about 15.3 million firearms produced in the period.
• Remington (owned by Freedom Group) produced about 14.2 million and comes in second.
• Smith & Wesson is third, with nearly 10.5 million. 

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