SLO County residents purchased more than 100,000 guns in the past 15 years, data shows

San Luis Obispo County is in the top third in the state for per capita assault weapon ownership, and more than 100,000 guns of all types were purchased in the county between 2001 and 2015.

Data from the state Department of Justice says SLO County registered 454 assault weapons per 100,000 residents, with a total of 1,286 firearms, including 1,202 assault rifles and 54 assault pistols — ranking it 19th out of California’s 58 counties in per capital assault weapon ownership.

Overall, during a roughly 15-year period, SLO County documented 106,530 gun sales total, including 64,753 long guns (shotguns and rifles) and 41,777 hand guns — amounting to 2,630 gun sales per 100,000 residents.

Assault weapons, under California law, include a range of semiautomatic rifles, pistols and shotguns that have their roots in military armaments, including the popular AK-47 and AR-15 series rifles, the UZI and other pistols, and “streetsweeper” shotguns.

The five California counties with the largest numbers of legally registered assault weapons are:

• Los Angeles County, 52,800 total, 514 per 100,000 population.
• Orange County, 21,142 total, 657 per 100,000.
• San Diego County, 16,078 total, 481 per 100,000.
• Santa Clara County, 11778, 602 per 100,000.
• Riverside County, 10,255 total, 423 per 100,000.

The data also showed that rural California, including chunks of the central San Joaquin Valley, enjoys its guns.

All told, there are 2,933 assault weapons registered to gun owners in Fresno County. Among neighboring Valley counties, the numbers are:

• Kings County: 289 assault weapons, 188 per 100,000 population.
• Madera County: 601 assault weapons, 380 per 100,000.
• Merced County: 662 assault weapons, 236 per 100,000.
• Tulare County, 1340 assault weapons, 281 per 100,000.

By comparison, the state reports that sparsely populated Mono County on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada range northeast of Fresno has only 159 registered assault weapons – but that’s enough to add up to a rate of 1,145 for every 100,000 residents.

Shasta County logged the state’s highest per capita gun sales total, registering 6,460 per 100,000 residents and 103,089 total for 2001 through 2015.

And while in Los Angeles County recorded nearly 1.16 million gun sales between 2001 and 2015, the highest in California, gun sales per 100,000 residents was 775, ranking it among the bottom of California counties.