Gun Control & RKBA

Politifact: Our ruling -- Bill Clinton says "every year there is a slightly smaller percentage of American households owning guns."
Although polls on gun-owning households are erratic, you can make a plausible argument they show a long-range downward trend. Clinton cites a series of surveys by the University of Chicago that show a drop of 19 percentage points since the early 1970s.
Another set of polls by Gallup show the five-decade drop is 2 percentage points. A third series of polls by Pew shows a decrease of 12 percentage points since 1993.
But much of the downward movement occurred in the 1990s, and Clinton goes overboard by saying the percentage is going down "every year." All three surveys show the yearly percentages have been fluctuating in recent years and that, since 2000, the drop is about 1 or 2 percentage points.
We rate Clinton’s statement Half True.

A 'half true' from politifact is not a misleading half truth; it means some parts are true, others not, count sort of as a push. Clinton should've just said since early 90's gun ownership rates have fallen, both personal gun ownership rates & in households. But a truth nonetheless, is that since the early 90's both violent crime rates have fallen and gun ownership rates have fallen, a clear correlation. Only national gunstock has increased from ~225 million to 300 million, but owning a dozen guns doesn't help any more than owning one or two, usually more hazardous.

1) Gallup: .. even Gallup's numbers show a decline in gun ownership since the early 1990s, from 54% of households in late 1993 to 43% as of this fall. http://www.gallup.com/poll/186236/americans-desire-stricter-gun-laws-sharply.aspx

people-press.org/files/2013/03/3-12-13-13.png

2): General Social Survey (GSS) .. data show a substantial decline in the shares of both households and individuals with guns... 1973, 49% reported having a gun or revolver in their home or garage. In 2012, 34% said they had a gun in their home or garage.
.. personal gun ownership in 1980, 29% said a gun in their home personally belonged to them. This stands at 22% in the 2012 GSS survey. http://www.people-press.org/2013/03/12/section-3-gun-ownership-trends-and-demographics/
3) ... The Pew Research Center has tracked gun ownership since 1993, and our surveys largely confirm the General Social Survey trend. In our Dec 1993 survey, 45% reported having a gun in their household; in early 1994, the GSS found 44% saying they had a gun in their home. A Jan 2013 Pew Research Center survey found 33% saying they had a gun, rifle or pistol in their home, as did 34% in the 2012 wave of {GSS}.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1172&pid=178997