2020 Setting Records For Gun Sales

In most cases the U.S. sees a jump in gun sales when politicians threaten gun restrictions. This time the jump in gun sales was, at first, due to the uncertainty that COVID-19 brought, then because of the civil unrest seen in major cities across the nation.

Threats from city councils to defund and even disband police departments is sending many city residents to the local gun store.

At the beginning of June, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has reported that more than 2.5 million people purchased guns for the first time in their lives in 2020.

It began with the pandemic. January to June 1 of 2020, was “unlike any other year for firearm purchases — particularly by first-time buyers — as new NSSF research reveals millions of people chose to purchase their first gun during the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to Jim Curcuruto, director of research and market development at the foundation.

Bring on the civil unrest and rising crime and murder rates in the big cities this year, and gun sales jumped again.

NSSF data show that beyond first time buyers there is a record number of gun transactions that reached as high as 10.3 million so far this year.

“First off,” Curcuruto said, writing in a July 21 blog post, “approximately 90 percent of retailers reported an increase in firearm and ammunition sales during the first half of 2020 versus the first half of 2019. How big are those increases? Responding retailers noted that they are seeing a 95 percent increase in firearm sales and a 139 percent increase in ammunition sales over the same period in 2019.”

Lets see how sales go for the second half of the year.