Gun sales last month continued on their record-breaking 56th straight month of over 1 million, and industry executives expect the heated election and President Joe Biden’s threat to ban AR-15-style firearms to keep that rally hot.
In March, sales came in at 1,442,061, said the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms trade group that uses FBI background checks to determine the numbers.
While those sales were lower than a year ago, the overall number remained strong, said NSSF spokesman Mark Oliva, who explained that Biden’s threats to gun owners are a contributing factor.
“Over 1.4 million Americans lawfully purchased a firearm at retail in March, a trend of over 1 million background checks for firearm sales that’s continued for nearly five years. Recent polls showed President Biden scored low marks for his policies attacking the rights of Americans, yet do nothing to hold criminals accountable for their crimes. He’s established an office staffed by gun control lobbyists to steer his gun control agenda and just announced measures to export dubious gun confiscation laws across the country that are void of adequate Due Process protections. America is choosing a different path,” he said.
Sales were also driven by first-time buyers concerned about crime, and many eager for AR-style “pistols” targeted by Biden’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, added Matt Miller, CEO of Cash for Arms and FirearmLand.
“The general sentiment among this group is that things have changed. It’s more dangerous out here than it was just a short time ago. People see violent criminals running loose. They see the flood of migrants overflowing their communities. They see our law enforcement hamstrung by absurd decisions,” he said, adding, “All of this is making Americans nervous and making them reach for their wallets in order to have guns within reach.”
The economy has played a role, too, Miller added.
“As America’s largest used gun dealer, we’re part of the national ‘street economy,’” he told Secrets. “Buying and selling hundreds of firearms every week, we see how many Americans are forced to sell guns to pay bills, as well as how prices are moving in real-time. Since inflation exploded in 2022, we’ve seen record numbers of people under pressure to sell their guns to cover basic expenses. That trend hasn’t changed. What has changed is the recent strengthening in gun prices, especially in the AR-15 market,” he said.
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NSSF’s Oliva said divisive elections also drive sales. “As President Biden ramps up rhetoric of pursuing his gun control agenda that includes banning the AR-15-style rifle, which is the most popular-selling semiautomatic rifle in America, it is expected that Americans will respond by exercising their rights to keep and bear arms before that constitutional right is taken from them,” he said.
Miller agreed, and he told us, “Looking forward, we expect these forces to intensify as potential black swan events lurk on multiple fronts and as our most divisive election season gets underway. No matter which way things go in November, our base-case business scenario supports growing demand for firearms throughout the remainder of 2024 into Q1 2025. Simply put, we see far more near-term catalysts for accelerated gun buying than the alternative.”
