By the numbers: Guns in America

There were 310 million nonmilitary firearms in the United States as of 2009, according to federal figures.

• 60% -- Americans who supported a handgun ban in 1959
• 26% -- Americans who supported a handgun ban in 2011
• 5,400 -- licensed firearms manufacturers in the U.S. in 2011
• 310 million -- Total number of nonmilitary firearms in the U.S. as of 2009

(CNN) -- Following the mass shootings in a Colorado movie theater and a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, the debate over gun control has been reignited: How should the country balance its constitutional right to bear arms with access to deadly firepower?

Here's a look by the numbers on guns in the United States and Americans' attitudes toward them.

26 -- Percentage of Americans who favor a handgun ban, a record low, according to a 2011 Gallup Poll.

60 -- Percentage who supported a ban in 1959, the first year Gallup asked this question.

47 -- Percentage of Americans who told Gallup in 2011 that they had at least one gun at home.

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At least 41 -- Percentage increase in background checks for new gun owners in Aurora, Colorado, on the weekend after shootings there.

56 -- Number of votes in the Senate that the assault weapons ban received in 1994.

19 -- Types of military-style weapons affected by the ban.

10 -- Years the assault weapons ban was in effect until it expired.

Do guns make us safer?

40 -- Percentage of guns sold through unlicensed, private sellers.

5,400 -- Licensed firearms manufacturers in the United States in 2011.

310 million -- Total number of nonmilitary firearms in the United States as of 2009.

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$75 or less -- Retail price of a low-caliber handgun.

At least $1,500 -- Retail price of a "higher-end" shotgun or rifle.

49 -- Percentage of Americans who said in 2011 that protecting gun-ownership rights was important.

46 -- Percentage who thought gun control was more important.

58 -- Percentage polled in 2011 after the shootings in Tucson, Arizona, that felt mass shootings were mainly isolated events carried out by "troubled individuals."

16,799 -- Homicides in the United States in 2009.

11,493 -- Homicides by firearm in 2009.

150,000 -- Brady Act background checks in 2009 that led to the rejection of a potential gun buyer's application.

39 -- Percentage of applications denied by states because of a felony conviction or indictment.