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40 Million Americans Bought Guns in 2020, 12M More Than Any Year Before
The Gun Study ^ | 1/26/2021

Posted on 01/26/2021 9:14:14 AM PST by Black_Rifle_Gunsmith

It’s not quite 40 million guns. The number is even higher. The FBI released its annual report of all recorded firearm transactions (not individual firearms sold) and the final tally stands at a whopping 39,695,315.

That last lil’ tidbit is important: These data only represent the number of inquiries submitted through the National Instant Criminal Background Check system (NICS). Each time a Federal Firearm Licensee (FFL) sells a firearm to any individual, the buyer’s background gets checked through this database to confirm he or she can, in fact, legally possess a firearm. NICS only records the buyer and not the guns they’re purchasing. Thankfully, federal law still prohibits the creation of a national firearm registry. That means the number of individual rifles, shotguns, and handguns sold is not recorded. And, since almost any number of firearms can be purchased in one transaction with a single NICS check, the number of guns sold in 2020 likely far exceeds forty million.

To put these data in perspective, last year’s transactions contributed more than 10 percent of all firearms currently and formerly owned in the country (about 372,700,000) since NICS began reporting in 1998. According to the Small Arms Survey, approximately 857 million firearms were estimated to be owned globally in 2017, an increase from 650 million estimated in 2006. That means Americans also contributed nearly 5 percent more to the current tally of firearms owned across the world. Accounting for average annual increases in firearm ownership over the last three years, The United States likely pushed the global number of guns owned in 2020 to over one billion. That’s one firearm for every seven-and-a-half people on Earth.

Even with the maelstrom that was 2020 swirling over Americans’ heads, a shift in firearm ownership had to occur to drive such unprecedented gun sales. After all, existing gun owners can only prepare for Doom’s Day with so many barrels and bolts. And a shift did occur, as the National Shooting Sports Foundation summarized late last year:

“This is a tectonic shift in the firearm and ammunition industry marketplace and complete transformation of today’s gun-owning community,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President of General Counsel. “These first-time buyers represent a group of people who, until now, were agnostic regarding firearm ownership. That’s rapidly changing, and these Americans are taking hold of their God-given right to keep and bear arms and protect themselves and their loved ones.” According to NSSF data, nearly 5 million first-time gun owners joined the Second Amendment’s club, representing 40 percent of sales conducted last year. These new gun buyers spurred a 71 percent increase in NICS checks over 2019’s total transactions.

Read the full story from The Gun Study here.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; Military/Veterans; Politics
KEYWORDS: banglist; biden; firearms; guns
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1 posted on 01/26/2021 9:14:14 AM PST by Black_Rifle_Gunsmith
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To: Black_Rifle_Gunsmith

bookmark


2 posted on 01/26/2021 9:16:50 AM PST by GOP Poet (Super cool you can change your tag line EVERYTIME you post!! :D. (Small things make me happy))
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To: Black_Rifle_Gunsmith

But now the real problem. 40 million more people need ammo......otherwise that new gun is a really nice paperweight.


3 posted on 01/26/2021 9:22:39 AM PST by Eagle of Liberty
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To: Black_Rifle_Gunsmith

I had thought Obama was the best gun salesman in history, now comes Joe and eclipses even that record. Add to that the very real threat that commercial production of sidearms will be shut down in the US, and gun ownership will become a difficult goal to aspire to, then you see the almost panic purchase of new firearms.

And all these purchases shall be somehow lost in a tragic incident while out on a boat in the deepest part of the lake.


4 posted on 01/26/2021 9:22:48 AM PST by alloysteel (Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition.)
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To: Black_Rifle_Gunsmith

As Robert Heinlein said, “An armed society is a polite society.”


5 posted on 01/26/2021 9:25:00 AM PST by ought-six (Multiculturalism is national suicide, and political correctness is the cyanide capsule. )
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To: Black_Rifle_Gunsmith

“40 Million Americans Bought Guns in 2020, 12M More Than Any Year Before”

That’s a lotta 13-page BATFE forms...and $200 fees.


6 posted on 01/26/2021 9:27:55 AM PST by moovova (Yo GOP....we won't forget.)
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To: moovova

That’s a lotta 13-page BATFE forms...and $200 fees.


I wonder if they’ll be able to manufacture enough votes to cover all the people they tick off? Despite their rhetoric, liberals are gun owners too.


7 posted on 01/26/2021 9:30:33 AM PST by rbg81 (Truth is stranger than fiction)
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To: Black_Rifle_Gunsmith

What demographic were those 5-million new owners in?


8 posted on 01/26/2021 9:34:28 AM PST by diatomite (That grifter crook Biden or Kamella isn't my president and never will be!! Resist!!)
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To: alloysteel

BLM & Antifa were the real gun sales persons.

Joe was just the PR firm...


9 posted on 01/26/2021 9:39:42 AM PST by ridesthemiles ( )
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To: Black_Rifle_Gunsmith

BLM & Antifa were the REAL gun sales persons.

Biden was just the PR firm.


10 posted on 01/26/2021 9:40:16 AM PST by ridesthemiles ( )
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To: rbg81

“I wonder if they’ll be able to manufacture enough votes to cover all the people they tick off?”

Absolutely. They proved they can manufacture as many votes as they need in the 2020 election.

Sadly.


11 posted on 01/26/2021 9:41:38 AM PST by moovova (Yo GOP....we won't forget.)
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To: Black_Rifle_Gunsmith

12 posted on 01/26/2021 9:43:16 AM PST by KeyLargo
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To: Black_Rifle_Gunsmith
Wonderful news. The more Americans that buy and own guns, the safer we will become.

The bad guys already have them, and that includes the fbi, atf, hhs, and all the rest of the thugs that get paid by the feral gummint.

13 posted on 01/26/2021 9:43:40 AM PST by USS Alaska (NUKE ALL MOOSELIMB TERRORISTS, NOW.)
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To: Black_Rifle_Gunsmith
NICS only records the buyer and not the guns they’re purchasing.

I believe that’s incorrect.

14 posted on 01/26/2021 9:45:10 AM PST by gundog (This space for rent.)
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To: Black_Rifle_Gunsmith

What for? Biden is going to get them.


15 posted on 01/26/2021 9:46:56 AM PST by sport
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To: Black_Rifle_Gunsmith

They would have bought a lot more if the guns and ammo were available.


16 posted on 01/26/2021 9:47:24 AM PST by T.B. Yoits
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To: bang_list
And if you bought an AR 15 with 10 magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds and a semi auto pistol with 6 magazines capable of holding 10 rounds, you will owe LOTS of money in federal transfer taxes via ATF Form 1 to the NFA registry:

$200.00 to register your AR 15
$2,000.00 to register your AR magazines.
$200.00 to register your semi auto pistol.
$1,200.00 to register your six pistol magazines
$270.00 for each double set of passport photos for each ATF Form 1
$180.00 in fingerprints. (In some states, they charge you to do fingerprints, say $10.00 for 2 sets).
Possibly a fee to visit Sheriff/CLEO to get sign off.

Total to unconstitutionally register your 1 rifle, 1 pistol, and magazines:

~$4,050.00

Those that don't register? Now they have a BIG fine and federal pen time hanging over you like with the Atkins accelerator turn in, the Striker/USAS-12 Destructive device reclassification, like the shoulder stock ban, etc. If you get caught with that, you are toast.

We used to have expost facto and bill of attainder thingys....come on, man!

17 posted on 01/26/2021 9:49:25 AM PST by DCBryan1 (Delete FB, TWTR, GOOGL, AMZN, YHOO, Gmail/chrome. Use Gab, Brave + DDG, VPN, Freerepublic )
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To: DCBryan1

Oh yeah, I forgot....what is the cost to laser ENGRAVE every magazine with a unique serial number according to ATF specs?


18 posted on 01/26/2021 9:52:56 AM PST by DCBryan1 (Delete FB, TWTR, GOOGL, AMZN, YHOO, Gmail/chrome. Use Gab, Brave + DDG, VPN, Freerepublic )
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To: Black_Rifle_Gunsmith

Here in PA, you get a copy of the “Application/Record of Sale.” The State Police get a copy of it. I believe the local sheriff gets one. It contains information on what you bought, manufacturer, model, caliber.
And PA considers itself pretty gun friendly.


19 posted on 01/26/2021 9:59:37 AM PST by Buttons12 ( )
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To: diatomite
"What demographic were those 5-million new owners in?"

Great question. Conservatives too often operate under the assumption that gun owners/purchasers are in lock step with their political points of view.

20 posted on 01/26/2021 10:07:30 AM PST by buckalfa
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