NEW YORK - Four in 10 adults live in households with guns, and those homes
have an average of two firearms each, according to a national poll.
   Louis Harris and Associates said its survey being released today indicates
a leveling off of gun ownership after a decline during the 1980s. In the
poll, 25 percent said they had a pistol, 27 percent a shotgun and 29 percent
a rifle.
   Some households have more than one type of gun. Forty percent have at
least one gun of any type.
   The polling company said it found the share of gun-owning households
lowest among the very poor, at 17 percent, compared with 54 percent in
families that earn $25,000 to $35,000.
   The Harris Poll interviewed 1,004 adults by phone July 15-21. Results have
a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.