Gun Sales in This State Top 7 Million Last Year

Gun Sales in This State Top 7 Million Last Year

January 5, 2021

The Federal Bureau of Investigation tracks gun sales and publishes a list of how many are handled as part of its National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Each month, the figures are reported by state. Nearly everyone put through this system qualifies as a buyer. People who are excluded usually have criminal records. Of the more than 300 million checks that have been done since 1998, there have only been 1.5 million denials. Therefore, the data is the best proxy for U.S. gun sales available.

Gun sales have soared in the past year. They have reached 39,659,315 for 2020. That is up from the 28,369,750 for all of last year. Growing civil unrest may have prompted people to buy guns for personal and family protection. Another theory is that chaos brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic is a major cause. A new UC Davis School of Medicine study about fear of violence reports: “The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated persistent structural, economic, and social inequities in the conditions that contribute to violence and its consequences.”

Who is buying these guns? A New York Times analysis shows that buyers cut across almost all demographic groups. Gun ownership has continued to be a flashpoint across the country, as the debate about who should own a gun and what kind of guns should be lawful continues, as it has for decades.

The rise in gun sales from 2019 to 2020 is not an anomaly. The number of gun sales has increased most years since 1999. At the current pace, 2020 sales will reach well over 35 million. Sales first topped 25 million in 2016, 20 million in 2013, 15 million in 2011 and 10 million in 2006. The first full year the FBI kept data was 1999, when total sales were 9,138,123.

The rate of gun sales is by no means uniform from state to state, nor is the growth level. Among all states, Illinois has posted the highest sales so far this year, by far, at 7,455,065. That is almost 19% of U.S. gun sales in 2020, although the state has less than 4% of the nation’s population.

These are the number of guns sold by state in 2020:

State/TerritoryDecember Sales2020 Sales
Illinois829,9837,455,065
Kentucky407,5223,330,462
Texas205,6162,325,281
Indiana263,1301,935,587
Florida172,9481,912,204
California135,4421,601,054
Pennsylvania126,9421,452,921
Utah98,9181,216,773
Alabama100,9271,085,475
Michigan94,4391,068,511
Tennessee90,064984,760
Ohio85,200976,751
Minnesota81,484958,391
Georgia86,651904,035
North Carolina81,676890,284
Virginia70,034823,513
Washington73,730781,471
Wisconsin61,539731,618
Missouri66,672708,184
Colorado60,239680,507
Arizona54,547665,458
South Carolina49,457530,930
Oregon46,574516,096
New York44,870507,940
Oklahoma45,342470,286
Louisiana44,689430,537
Mississippi38,101366,829
Arkansas31,618324,741
Maryland29,285302,563
Idaho27,543281,284
Iowa31,037270,614
West Virginia24,557265,705
Massachusetts24,487262,583
Kansas23,874249,589
Nevada17,338219,349
Connecticut21,344219,227
New Mexico19,437206,252
New Jersey21,162177,901
New Hampshire14,450174,662
Montana17,091172,695
Maine11,646137,149
South Dakota11,737115,448
Nebraska10,963104,511
Alaska8,89698,952
Wyoming9,73691,384
North Dakota8,08585,465
Delaware6,66677,057
Vermont5,11057,965
Rhode Island4,00251,369
Puerto Rico4,43931,671
Hawaii2,00620,102
District of Columbia1,10811,485
Guam2863,572
Virgin Islands2111,639
Mariana Islands29222

ALSO READ: 35 of the Weirdest Plants on Earth


Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

Source: Read Full Article