Gun Sales Surged in 2020 on Pandemic Anxiety, Political Uncertainty
Gun sales in the United States set a record in 2020, FBI statistics show, in a year scarred by the COVID-19 pandemic and marked by social and political tensions.
In 2020, federal authorities carried out more than 39.5 million firearms background checks, which serve as a proxy for gun sales.
Staff at the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) processed nearly 4 million checks in December, the busiest month on record. Since it was begun in 1998, the NICS system has processed more than 300 million checks, including over 1.5 million denials.
But while the gun sales trend has seen a steady rise since 2005, when nearly 9 million checks were done, the past year saw extraordinary activity, with almost 40 percent more checks compared to 2019.
Gun sales in the United States rose 40% last year to 39,695,315. The figure represents the high water mark in gun sales since the current record-keeping system went into effect. Increases by state varied substantially. In at least one state, sales more than doubled. The Federal Bureau of Investigation tracks gun sales and publishes a […]
Tribune-Review
TribLIVE s Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox.
Word that Pennsylvania State Police saw a record surge in firearm license background checks in 2020 didn’t surprise Mark Boerio, owner of Latrobe’s Army Navy & Indoor Pistol Range.
Business soared last year and has continued into 2021, he said.
“It’s the same everywhere,” Boerio said. “First you had covid-19, then all of the riots last summer, then the election and then the election outcome. … It’s been one thing after another. And it’s all politics still driving the sales.”
Prospects for any sort of pro-gun bill moving in Congress are dim, but that doesn’t mean Congress shouldn’t try - especially with the Hearing Protection Act