By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Approximately 26.2 million Americans have purchased funs for the first time since 2020, according to a new report from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).
In a column authored by NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Larry Keane, the group reveals that this number includes people “from all different races, genders, backgrounds, religions and ethnicities.”
“What’s more,” Keane writes, “is it’s clear these first-time buyers aren’t just paying the cashier and walking out with a new piece of hardware. They’re showing an interest in getting trained and educated to be safe, responsible firearm owners.”
That’s not all, according to NSSF, which is the firearm industry trade association. The group reported back in 2022 that “at least 5.4 million people purchased a firearm for the first time in 2021.”
This figure was based on NSSF retailer surveys, and NSSF-adjusted figures from the National Instant Check System (NICS) for that year.
In 2024, more than 15.2 million NICS background checks were conducted which involved actual firearms transactions, according to NSSF.
The FBI’s raw numbers for NICS checks last year came to 28,097,205, but not all of those involved firearms transactions. That number is down more than 11 million from the peak in 2020, when 39.69 million NICS checks were reported. That was the year which included civil unrest in the wake of the death of George Floyd while being restrained by police in Minneapolis, Minn., and the outbreak of COVID-19. The officer restraining Floyd was convicted of murder.
In the five years since 2020, during the Biden-Harris administration, there was a decline in police manpower in many areas across the country. That evidently led more people to their local gun shops, where they bought firearms and assumed a greater responsibility for their own safety.
A Pew Research report released in July 2024 said 72 percent of gun owners say they own firearms primarily for personal protection. The report also revealed “about four-in-ten U.S. adults said they live in a household with a gun,” and 32 percent said they own a gun.
Incredibly, 61 percent of Americans believe it is too easy to legally obtain a firearm in the U.S., the Pew survey also revealed. Fewer than 9 percent think it is too hard and 30 percent think it is “about right.” The numbers get skewed when asking non-gun owners, among whom 73 percent contend it is too easy to buy a gun in this country, while only 38 percent of gun owners agree.
