NYers Own Fewer Guns Than Almost Any Other State, Study Shows

NEW YORK — New Yorkers are far from hungry for guns. The Empire State has one of the nation's lowest gun ownership rates, helping to make it one of the states that's least dependent on the gun industry, a new WalletHub study shows.

Just 10.3 percent of New Yorkers own guns, which is the third-lowest rate among the 50 states, the personal finance website says. The state also has the third-lowest rate of gun sales per 1,000 residents at 18.11, according to the study.

The city placed third from the bottom in WalletHub's overall ranking of gun-industry dependency, which compared the states across 17 metrics of the industry's presence, gun politics and the prevalence of firearms.

The Empire State is home to the fourth-fewest firearms industry jobs per capita, according to the study, and the industry pays fewer excise taxes per capita in New York than anywhere else.

The state's ranking shouldn't come as a surprise given that it has the sixth-strongest gun laws in the nation, according to the Giffords Law Center for Gun Violence Prevention.

Just across the Hudson River, New Jersey was named the state least dependent on the gun industry. But western states lean more heavily on the firearms industry, the study shows, with Idaho, Alaska, South Dakota and Wyoming topping WalletHub's list.

Read the full study here.