18.5 Million Guns Sold in 2021

2021 was the second-best year on record for gun sales.

Americans bought more than 18.5 million guns, according to an industry analysis of FBI background check data. That puts the 2021 numbers about 12 percent off the all-time record set in 2020. But it also puts 2021 40 percent ahead of 2019’s total.

“The fact that over 18.5 million Americans chose lawfully purchase a firearm in 2021 is indicative the value Americans hold of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms,” Mark Oliva, a spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), which did the analysis, said in a statement.

The numbers stabilizing below 2020 levels but above previous years indicate the gun industry has reached a new base level of demand. While strong short-term motivators such as the chaos surrounding the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and the nationwide rioting in the wake of the murder of George Floyd have faded, other reasons for Americans to buy guns have remained. The threat of new restrictions on gun ownership, a traditional driver of sales spikes, likely motivated 2021 buyers as President Joe Biden (D.) pursued aggressive new gun-control measures through both legislation and unilateral executive action.

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