Gun sales drop to…new normal

A story in three numbers: 1,848,307 vs. 1,279,300 vs. 1,233,115. That’s the number of NSSF-adjusted FBI NICS background checks that led to likely over-the-counter gun sales at licensed firearm dealers in July 2020, July 2021, and July 2022, respectively.

That is a year-over-year decrease for the past three years, dropping 41.3 percent from 2020 to 2021 and a shallower 4.5 percent when comparing last month to the July 2021 figures.

Sounds bad, right? Well, on a three-year basis, yes, but– and it’s a big but– for the past 36 months, something has happened that has never occurred before in U.S. gun history: every single month has seen over 1 million guns sold. Thirty-six months, at least 36 million guns. Folks have gone wild for guns and don’t show any sign of stopping.

If you are curious, the July 2019 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure was a paltry 830,579.

By Michael Crites

Michael Crites is el jefe around here. He has spent more than 30 years shooting, learning about guns, and collecting firearms old and new. He holds his Oregon Concealed Handgun License, and enjoys testing products in the back 40 of his farm.

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