One of the strongest themes of the past year has been the surge in gun sales taking place nationwide. Americans have quickly realized that law enforcement departments across major cities have been hamstrung and rendered incapable of providing order. In turn, Americans were compelled to buy firearms for self-defense.
According to figures from the FBI’s background check data that the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) reviewed, more than 1.3 million firearms were sold in August 2021. According to Stephen Gutowski of The Reload, August 2021 was “the second-best August on record for gun sales in the United States, with 2020 being the only year to see higher sales. 2021 has now seen four straight months with gun sales at second-best levels.”
Gutowski expanded on what these sales numbers mean for gun purchase trends over the past year:
The numbers indicate gun sales have begun to settle down into a new post-surge normal. While purchases are no longer at the all-time-record levels seen throughout much of 2020 and culminating in a new yearly record, they haven’t regressed below levels seen in the years before the coronavirus pandemic drove Americans to the gun store in an unprecedented surge. The stabilization of gun sales at a far higher rate than before the latest surge began indicates more Americans are buying more guns than they used to, which will likely impact both American culture and politics in the long term as well as gun-company profits in the short term.
Based its analysis, NSSF argued that firearms demand has stayed relatively strong even as the pandemic has subsided and conflict between citizens and law enforcement has cooled down due to the fact that citizens are still concerned about gun control coming from the Biden administration.
“President Joe Biden nominated a gun control lobbyist to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, is calling for the repeal of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) to allow activist lawyers to sue firearm manufacturers into oblivion, and is pursuing end-runs around Congress through proposed rules that are outside the Executive Branch’s Constitutional authority,” Mark Oliva, an NSSF spokesman, declared. “Americans are choosing a different path. Americans acted upon their God-given right to keep and bear arms over 1.3 million times in August. That sends a clear signal that Americans are choosing their gun rights over the Biden administration’s gun control.”
According to NSSF’s findings, total sales in 2021 fell by 10% from the same timeframe in 2020. Nevertheless, these sales have already nearly surpassed 2019’s total sales.
“The August 2021 figures were the second strongest for the month on record, surpassed only by August 2020, when 1,684,083 background checks for a firearm sale were conducted,” the NSSF analysis observed. “The total NSSF-adjusted NICS January – August 2021 reflects a decrease of 10.3% compared to the same time period in 2020.”
Olivia believes that 2021 gun sales will overtake 2019 total sales as the Fall period approaches, a time when there has been traditionally robust demand.
“So far in 2021, there have been over 12.4 million background checks for the sale of a firearm,” Olivia remarked. “That is within striking distance of 2019’s full year totals, when 13.2 million background checks were conducted for a gun sale. Four months remain, during which firearm sales historically rise.”
The increased gun sales demonstrate that American gun culture is alive and well in America. It will take more than just petty insults and anti-gun talking points to keep Americans from arming themselves.
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