by Peter Suciu at 19fortyfive.com
U.S. Gun Sales Pass One Million Mark for 43rd Month in a Row in February – Though sales are down from their record highs of 2020 and 2021, guns are still in hot demand based on the latest retail data and FBI background checks.
According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the firearm industry trade association, sales of firearms surpassed 1.3 million units in February – even with fewer days on the calendar.
Moreover, sales had declined just 0.6 percent compared to February 2022 – based on NSSF-adjusted data from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Though not a direct correlation to gun sales, the NSSF-adjusted NICS data provide an additional picture of current market conditions.
February was the 43rd month in a row to see gun sales exceed a million units.
“Over 1.3 million background checks were conducted for the sale of a firearm in February, holding steady with the figure from one year ago,” Mark Oliva, NSSF’s director of public affairs, told reporters via a statement.
“This is demonstrative of a steady appetite for Americans from all walks of life to exercise their Second Amendment right to lawful firearm ownership. Certain politicians choose twisted narratives to demonize firearm ownership instead of confronting the criminal elements in our communities. Figures like these, month after month, show us that Americans reject that rhetoric and are choosing to protect themselves and participate in the rich heritage of the shooting sports.”
In addition, whilst guns sales surged during the pandemic, the more than the three-year period that has seen more than one million units sold monthly actually began in July 2019.
The gun sales boom clearly isn’t over.