According to an industry estimate, Americans bought about 19.9 million firearms last year, down from the previous year but still the second-busiest year on record, as politics and public health continue to drive interest in owning guns.
A customer tries out a gun at a store.
The images are from the same company.
The pre-pandemic record of 16.7 million sales in 2016 was easily surpassed by the record-breaking 22.8 million sales in 2020.
The firearms industry sold about six guns for every 100 Americans.
In January and March, the two busiest months of the year, sales topped 2.2 million and 2.2 million, respectively.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation estimates sales at about 18 million last year, its second-highest annual figure. The FBI ran 38.9 million background checks in 2021, a new record, and 39.7 million in 2020, also a new record, because the data doesn't correspond perfectly with purchases.
The key background.
Small Arms Analytics and Forecasting says gun sales soared to unprecedented levels in 2020. Many observers think politics and Covid-19 are key reasons for this surge, as the Pandemic and the economic devastation it wrought fueled safety worries in early 2020, and sales spike ahead of presidential elections if firearm enthusiasts fear stricter gun control measures. Americans were less worried about Covid-19 last year and President Joe Biden did not call for more stringent gun laws. Demand for guns hasn't faded yet, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
The number of U.S. gun deaths increased during the Pandemic. The Gun Violence Archive shows that 20,726 people died from homicides, unintentional deaths and other types of gun violence in the year 2021, and 19,486 died in the year 2020. The country recorded 693 mass shootings with four or more injuries last year, a jump from 611 in 2020 and 417 in 2019. Some advocates for stricter gun control fear the rapid rise in gun sales has boosted the risk of gun injuries and violence, especially among first-time owners who aren't accustomed to owning a firearm, but gun control opponents argue most crimes are committed using illegal or second-hand guns.
