What’s with the South and their guns?

A middle-class enclave on the South Shore of the city’s southernmost borough is the gun capital of New York, with 509 residents — or about one in every 57 males — legally packing heat.

Guns are “a beautiful thing to own,” said Peter Bruno, 73, who lives in the pistol-packing 10312 ZIP code, which cover’s Staten Island’s Annadale, Arden Heights and Eltingville sections.

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHICH CITY ZIP CODES HAVE THE MOST AND FEWEST GUN-PERMIT HOLDERS

The neighborhood is filled with single-family homes on 40-by- 100-foot lots and attached town houses, largely populated with conservative-leaning civil servants like cops and firefighters, as well as Wall Streeters.

“That’s the quintessential group that owns guns for their home and family protection,” said the area’s city councilman, Vincent Ignizio.

Many of those gun-toting residents practice their aim at two private gun ranges on the island, and many also head upstate to unload.

“There are a lot of hunters,” said longtime resident Guido Cadunzi, a gun-safety instructor.

The well-armed area is also one of the city’s safest. The 123rd Precinct has seen a 27 percent decrease in major crimes over the past 10 years, and there were just two homicides there in 2009 and 2010.

“There are many security guards who live here, too, and retired law-enforcement,” said Staten Islander Juan Cabrera, who works at a Bronx gun store. “Everybody should have guns. This country was built by people who had guns.”

Brooklyn’s Marine Park and Mill Basin neighborhoods — ZIP code 11234 — has the second-highest number of NYPD gun-permit holders in the city with 503 — or roughly one gun for every 80 males — according to the list obtained by The Post from the NYPD under a Freedom of Information request. Nearly all the names on the list are male.

The third most gun-friendly neighborhood is also in Staten Island, in the 10314 ZIP code covering Willowbrook and Bulls Head, with 400 gun-permit holders — or approximately one gun for every 102 men.

There are dozens of ZIP codes with only one permit issued, including in Queens, The Bronx and Brooklyn.

The total number of permits in the city has increased slightly for the first time in years, from 37,285 in 2009 to 37,382 last year, according to the NYPD. It costs $340 to file a permit application, and there’s a $94.25 fingerprinting fee.

To qualify for a “carry” permit, applicants must show documented threats or prove they routinely transport cash or valuables in business. Most gun owners get a less restrictive “premises” permit, allowing them to keep a firearm at home.

Longtime permit holders include actors Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel, millionaires Donald Trump, Ron Lauder and John Catsimatidis, Met third baseman David Wright, singer Marc Anthony, and shock jocks Howard Stern and Don Imus.