Gun Sales Up, and Up, and Up

Interesting article. Amazing how many firearms are sold each month these days compared to say, 1999! Possible many more were sold via private sale, but the growth seems significant.

["F]or the first quarter of 2021 as a whole, about 5.9 million firearms were sold as opposed to 5.2 million in the first quarter of 2020. If this rate of sales were to be sustained throughout 2021, last year?s record sales of 22.8 million would be broken,? he said."

https://www.shootingillustrated.com/...es-record-set/

Significant increase in new gun owners and Bin Biden pull this shit.

[pileoshit]

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Originally Posted by MrPrena

Significant increase in new gun owners and Bin Biden pull this shit.

[pileoshit]

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Tyranny

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Originally Posted by Scanker19

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Insane... I'm from the government and I'm here to help....

I've had many non-gun owner friends purchase them and obtain a CCP this last year due to COVID, "social unrest" (perpetuated by the media), the election and now Biden-Harris... These numbers reflect that... Glad we have more gun owners, we need to make sure they know their rights...

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Originally Posted by exxonv

I've had many non-gun owner friends purchase them and obtain a CCP this last year due to COVID, "social unrest" (perpetuated by the media), the election and now Biden-Harris... These numbers reflect that... Glad we have more gun owners, we need to make sure they know their rights...

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That's great, but I'm willing to bet 99% of them will let Biden take your evil scary black assault-weapon-ghost-gun-pistol-brace baby killing military-grade weapons of war.

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Originally Posted by brutal

That's great, but I'm willing to bet 99% of them will let Biden take your evil scary black assault-weapon-ghost-gun-pistol-brace baby killing military-grade weapons of war.

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Maybe, or maybe they'll join the ranks. 99% huh? Glass half empty 😀?

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Originally Posted by exxonv

Maybe, or maybe they'll join the ranks. 99% huh? Glass half empty ��?

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Just giving you a goal to work at. [Coffee]

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Originally Posted by brutal

Just giving you a goal to work at. [Coffee]

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[Weight] working, they're not progressive/socialist/communists, so I have some runway!!

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Originally Posted by exxonv

Maybe, or maybe they'll join the ranks. 99% huh? Glass half empty 😀?

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Glass half empty? Hardly. More like reality. We've had an upward trend in firearms sales/ownership for many years. The chart only goes to 2015 but we know the numbers are still going up. Yet someone is still electing people like Obama and Biden to the presidency and anti-gunners to congress. How do you explain that? Owning or buying a gun doesn't make one pro-gun and it sure as hell doesn't guarantee someone will vote pro-gun.

Look at the chart since 2008 and compare that to who's been in power.

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Originally Posted by Bailey Guns

Glass half empty? Hardly. More like reality. We've had an upward trend in firearms sales/ownership for many years. The chart only goes to 2015 but we know the numbers are still going up. Yet someone is still electing people like Obama and Biden to the presidency and anti-gunners to congress. How do you explain that? Owning or buying a gun doesn't make one pro-gun and it sure as hell doesn't guarantee someone will vote pro-gun.

Look at the chart since 2008 and compare that to who's been in power.

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Wow, revolves are always popular :).

You can look at it however you'd like, and I can see your perspective for sure. I'm not naive or slow, but I don't want to walk through my time left on the planet being negative about it, I'm going to keep educating and promoting ownership, the 2nd Amendment, and the fact that it's a God given right. That's my choice.

I also believe there is systematic voters fraud, illegal activity on the Left, and that the closer in proximity people live, the more they're willing to give up freedom. Plus, the press has a grip on this nation. My decision, smile, tell the truth, and remain positive.

Even if you assume 5.9 million new sales is equal to that many voters (with a fresh perspective?) that number is still a pretty small fraction of the 160 million total registered voters. Spread out across all the states even if all those potential voters were to vote the same way this doesn't feel like it makes a significant difference on the national scale.

Anecdotal evidence aside, I wonder how many actual NEW gun owners there are?

I'd be willing to bet most of these "increased sales" are not non-gun-owners becoming gun owners, they are people who are already gun owners buying more guns.

The general increase in buying power and material affluence (due in large part to low inflation over the past ~35 years or so) means people can buy all sorts of new toys and gadgets for themselves. In the 1960's it was a sign of affluence if a family had more than one car (look at how many houses in the 50's/60's had single car garages.) In the 1970's it was a sign of affluence if a family had more than one television.

Now look at a typical middle class family, multiple cars/toys (motorcycles, 4 wheelers, RVs, etc), multiple televisions/screens, phones, tablets, etc.

It's the same with guns. People who in the 60's or 70's might have owned a centerfire pistol, a .22, a hunting rifle and a shotgun now own multiple handguns, rifles, shotguns, etc.

In terms of politics, I agree that gun owner =/= pro-gun voter. There are plenty of people who own firearms who are more than happy with laws that would prevent or restrict OTHER people from owning firearms, as long as they, themselves, are not subject to those laws.

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Originally Posted by Martinjmpr

Anecdotal evidence aside, I wonder how many actual NEW gun owners there are?

I'd be willing to bet most of these "increased sales" are not non-gun-owners becoming gun owners, they are people who are already gun owners buying more guns.

The general increase in buying power and material affluence (due in large part to low inflation over the past ~35 years or so) means people can buy all sorts of new toys and gadgets for themselves. In the 1960's it was a sign of affluence if a family had more than one car (look at how many houses in the 50's/60's had single car garages.) In the 1970's it was a sign of affluence if a family had more than one television.

Now look at a typical middle class family, multiple cars/toys (motorcycles, 4 wheelers, RVs, etc), multiple televisions/screens, phones, tablets, etc.

It's the same with guns. People who in the 60's or 70's might have owned a centerfire pistol, a .22, a hunting rifle and a shotgun now own multiple handguns, rifles, shotguns, etc.

In terms of politics, I agree that gun owner =/= pro-gun voter. There are plenty of people who own firearms who are more than happy with laws that would prevent or restrict OTHER people from owning firearms, as long as they, themselves, are not subject to those laws.

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GREAT points - never really looked at it that way till now, but just cars and TVs show the trend in affluence, and I know I added a few more pew pew's to my collection this last year!

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Originally Posted by izzy

Even if you assume 5.9 million new sales is equal to that many voters (with a fresh perspective?) that number is still a pretty small fraction of the 160 million total registered voters. Spread out across all the states even if all those potential voters were to vote the same way this doesn't feel like it makes a significant difference on the national scale.

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Good point - makes one wonder how many of those 350 million firearms out there belong to each gun owner. I am all for getting people into gun ownership, helping them gain confidence and skill with their firearm, and pointing out that they need to join us in the fight to keep our freedom (fresh perspective folks). "If we can save just one person.... " :).

I wasn't really frequenting gun stores much recently but every time I did go in one there were definitely people shopping for guns who had obviously never owned one. I'm sure there have always been people new to guns (every single one of us was a new gun owner at some point) but it does seem like I have been noticing a general increase in the number of people buying their first firearm. I don't really believe its a culture shift by any means and probably had more to do with th civil unrest and uncertainty that always comes in an election year. Compound that with the whole covid fiasco and free money from the government and there you have it.

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Originally Posted by Martinjmpr

There are plenty of people who own firearms who are more than happy with laws that would prevent or restrict OTHER people from owning firearms, as long as they, themselves, are not subject to those laws.

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Those people just can't see the big picture. The end game has always been zero firearms for anyone other than the military and maybe law enforcement. The Fudds of the world have always been ignorant of this with their mentality that since they don't own or need certain types of firearms then who cares what laws they pass. Well ain't bubba going to surprised one day when grandpappy's old deer rifle turns out to be a deadly sniper rifle and his favorite duck hunting shotgun is deemed a destructive device and his trusty 357 wheel gun is outlawed with every other handgun because they can be too easily concealed. Guess he'll be buying his meat at the grocery store and looking for some new hobbies.

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Originally Posted by Martinjmpr

Anecdotal evidence aside, I wonder how many actual NEW gun owners there are?

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Based on people coming to the range, a lot. I see new gun owners trying to figure out what to do, more than the usual, seasoned gun owner. Average age is 50+ with woman an easy 80%+ of those numbers.

Then there's the new[er] shooter who brings their kids, or relatives with them.

Out here families do range time and there seems to be more of a "communal" mentality to guns and shooting, in general.

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Originally Posted by Great-Kazoo

Based on people coming to the range, a lot. I see new gun owners trying to figure out what to do, more than the usual, seasoned gun owner. Average age is 50+ with woman an easy 80%+ of those numbers.

Then there's the new[er] shooter who brings their kids, or relatives with them.

Out here families do range time and there seems to be more of a "communal" mentality to guns and shooting, in general.

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Yep, same here, seeing similar. Conceal carry is a big thing for these new folks, lots of them clearly pro 2nd, but never were owners till now. All the "old" discussions come back, 9mm vs. .45 ACP, carry condition, situational awareness, good holster vs. bad holster, which gun to buy, where to buy, where to practice, what to shoot when, etc. I actually enjoy those conversations - try to "meet people where they are" vs. speaking down to them. A great many seem ready to defend their rights once they know what's at stake. It's not a revolution, but an evolution, and I'm glad to see more female gun owners deciding to take their protection and their rights "personal" as well as "national".

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Originally Posted by ray1970

Those people just can't see the big picture. The end game has always been zero firearms for anyone other than the military and maybe law enforcement. The Fudds of the world have always been ignorant of this with their mentality that since they don't own or need certain types of firearms then who cares what laws they pass.

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I think you're making a mistake of assuming that "the other side", i.e. the pro-gun control people, are a monolithic, single-minded organism with a single goal while "our side", i.e gun owners, are riven with factions who want different things and are willing to give up "this" in order to keep "that."

The reality is that there are just as many different factions on the anti-gun side as there are on the pro-gun side. There are absolutely those who would love to ban all guns in private hands. They are actually a minority though. There are a lot of people who support various gun control measures who are not hostile to guns and who are, in fact, gun owners themselves (I have several in my family.)

Lumping them all together as a bunch of gun-confiscating commies might be effective when you're "preaching to the choir" but it's not a very effective way to debate public policy.

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Well ain't bubba going to surprised one day when grandpappy's old deer rifle turns out to be a deadly sniper rifle and his favorite duck hunting shotgun is deemed a destructive device and his trusty 357 wheel gun is outlawed with every other handgun because they can be too easily concealed. Guess he'll be buying his meat at the grocery store and looking for some new hobbies.

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I doubt that could happen in the lifetime of anybody on this board. Those who point to England or Australia as cautionary examples are missing the most important point: By the time draconian restrictions were enacted in those countries, total gun ownership amounted to a very small fraction of the population.

It doesn't help that in England, in particular, hunting and gun ownership have always been upper-class practices and gun ownership amongst working class people has always been very low. By contrast, gun ownership and hunting have been popular in the lower economic classes in America since it was founded, primarily because of our frontier heritage. The yeoman farmer on the great plains NEEDED a shotgun and likely a rifle to provide food for the family and to protect against wild animals, bandits and Indians.

By contrast, in England the only one who "NEEDED" a gun was Sir Rodney Riche-Pigge, ESQ, Lord of the Estate and Duke of the Manor, to go hunting on the weekends while the proles toiled in the coal mines making him rich.

Even in wide-open Australia, private gun ownership was very low percentage wise (I think it was less than 10%, not sure the exact figures) and most of that was concentrated in the sparsely populated Outback regions.

By the time you get to that point, it doesn't really matter whether gun owners organize or lobby or whatever. Their power to affect elections is so small that from a political standpoint it makes them irrelevant which is why they get steamrolled.

That is not true of the US where gun owners and pro-gun households (which I would define as those who tend to vote pro-gun whether they personally own firearms or not) are a significant percentage of the population. I've heard estimates of 25% of households own guns and I wouldn't be surprised if it was much higher in some states.

Furthermore, our Federal system gives disproportionate voting power to low-population rural states where gun ownership tends to remain popular (the example being that Wyoming with 600,000 people has the same representation in the Senate as California with 30 million.) Since we have more low-population rural states than "urban" states, that again tilts the equation in favor of low population states.

There's another aspect of low-population states that also needs to be taken into consideration: In a low population state, the difference between a senate or gubernatorial candidate or even a representative winning or losing can be very small - in the low thousands or even hundreds. That means that candidates in those states need to tread carefully when it comes to sensitive issues like guns because it doesn't take much of a "groundswell" to boot them from office.

There have been various surveys showing the average age of hunters has been steadily climbing since the 1960's. Not nearly as many hunting licenses are being sold as there were back then either. The overall trend seems to be going away from sport hunting for a majority of the population.

Consider that as recently as the 1950's, a standard SitCom staple story would be "the guys go on a hunting trip" - showing you how "mainstream" hunting was back then.

Assuming that trend remains, we may well see the sport of hunting largely disappear (or become a very esoteric practice by a few die-hard hunters, like in parts of Europe.) When we get to that point, firearms ownership may drop to a low enough point that we may well see a push to largely outlaw guns nationwide but, again, I think it will take us at least 100 years to get to that point.

And a lot can happen in 100 years. ;)

I know next week I'm taking my girlfriend to get her first gun (though I guess she's not as interested in CCW as much as open-carry; her rationale from what I understand is she wants it as a deterrent, I'm not exactly sure how to respond). I'm thinking I'll pick something up myself too; I have a pistol but it's not exactly sized for CCW so might get something smaller, and/or might just get a small 22 for plinking (and to train the daughter when she gets a bit older).

(On a side note, I'm proud of the girl; she'll be starting kindergarten in the fall, and as such is trying to learn lots of things. One thing she asked me to teach her last night are the parts of guns. I'm simultaneously proud and scared, as I should probably study up to teach her tonight! lol) (Oh, and she wants me to teach her how to fish come summertime!)

If 60% of those who are NEW gun owners vote for republican in tight swing states, it will make some difference this upcoming mid term.

All great and well thought out points! I tend to agree with hunting declining and the association to gun ownership, but I wonder how much conceal carry is helping hold that population up. I too have family who own firearms and yet who feel that the government should push for things like universal background checks, bans on some weapons, and capacity, etc. I point out to them that these "laws" are only in-place to impact legal gun owners, that they are in fact pissing away their rights and mine for the sake of an illusion of safety, and that the 2nd isn't' about safety, it's about tyranny, with safety being a nice addition. It makes them think (when they own guns). But there are those who would rather let other people solve their problems for them, and unfortunately, those people can be quite loud and whiny..

Fudds are worse.

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Originally Posted by MrPrena

Fudds are worse.

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Agreed - when they start out "I believe in the 2nd amendment, I have a hunting rifle and that's all you'd ever need", I laugh and tell them the same could be said for a V8 vs. a bike... They usually have to think about that for a bit (longer than they should) before they come up with some other excuse, or give that knowing smile that says to me that they're brainwashed and ignorant.

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Originally Posted by RblDiver

I know next week I'm taking my girlfriend to get her first gun ...(On a side note, I'm proud of the girl; she'll be starting kindergarten in the fall...

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Wow, Diver. You like 'em young!

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Originally Posted by RblDiver

(though I guess she's not as interested in CCW as much as open-carry; her rationale from what I understand is she wants it as a deterrent, I'm not exactly sure how to respond).

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you respond by telling her it's idiotic

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Originally Posted by RblDiver

I know next week I'm taking my girlfriend to get her first gun (though I guess she's not as interested in CCW as much as open-carry; her rationale from what I understand is she wants it as a deterrent, I'm not exactly sure how to respond).

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If you want to keep her as your girlfriend, you meet her where she is, and you listen and try to make your points, gently. Over time, if she trusts you, she'll change her thoughts. I've seen it work, made it work w/my wife, and it's the best path IMO.