Book excerpt: In 2007, the Small Arms Survey estimated the number of civilian firearm ownership world-wide at approximately 650 million weapons out of some 875 then in existence (see Figures 1 and 2). National ownership rates range from a high of 90 firearms per every 100 people in the United States, to one firearm or less for every 100 residents in countries like South Korea and Ghana (see Table 1). With the world's factories delivering millions of newly manufactured firearms annually, and with far fewer being destroyed, civilian ownership is growing (Small Arms Survey, 2007, p. 39).