Gun sales have exploded this year with the help of millions of first-time shooters, according to the industry’s trade group.
There are 5 million new gun owners, and many are minorities, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
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The group said that its surveys of gun stores found that 58% of the firearm purchases were by black men and women, “the largest increase of any demographic group.”
What’s more, said the group, “women comprised 40% of first-time gun purchasers.”
Gun store owners this year have attributed the jump in sales to the 2020 election and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s call for a gun ban, fears related to the coronavirus crisis, and ongoing Black Lives Matter-related riots and killings in cities.
The FBI has a record high in background checks, too.
Stores are reporting bare shelves, and ammunition is unavailable nationally.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation’s report said, “Retailers noted that they are seeing a 95% increase in firearm sales and a 139% increase in ammunition sales” over the same period 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 Keane, the senior vice president of general counsel for National Shooting Sports Foundation. “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.”
