The MN County I Grew Up in Has the Highest Percentage of Guns

Straight Outta Fridley. OK, What? I was born and raised in Fridley, Minnesota, USA -- and apparently its among the top counties in America for gun ownership, and tops in Minnesota.

According to citydata.com. Anoka County, home to Fridley, Coon Rapids, Anoka, Blaine, Andover, and more has the highest gun ownership rate in the state, at 40.3 percent (#44 nationally). While impressive in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, it pales in comparison to the Top county in America. That distinction belongs to Stewart County, Tennessee where 64% of the households have at least one firearm.

Dakota County, home of Apple Valley, Eagan, Burnsville, and more, comes in the number two spot for Minnesota's most armed counties at 33.6% (#74 nationally).

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Those are the only counties of Minnesota's 87, that appear in America's Top-100 most-armed counties.

As far as our neighboring states are concerned in the U.S. Top-100 list:

#13 - Pennington County, SD (Rapid City, Rapid Valley, Box Elder)
#23 - Minnehaha County, SD (Sioux Falls, Brandon, Dell Rapids)
#43 - Cass County, ND (Fargo, West Fargo, Casselton)
#85 - Polk County, IA (Des Moines, West Des Moines, Urbandale)

In 2022, 48,204 people died by firearms in the United States — an average of one death every 11 minutes. Over 27,032 people died by firearm suicide, 19,651 died by firearm homicide, 463 died by unintentional gun injury, and an estimated 643 were fatally shot by law enforcement. That's all according to the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

According to the Pew Research Center,

The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms, and about a third of U.S. adults say they personally own a gun.

Personal protection tops the list of reasons gun owners give for having a firearm.