2022: Another Strong Year For Gun Sales

Above, Cabela's gun department in Albuquerque. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

2022 was another strong year for gun sales, according to an article at the NRA-ILA website.

They wrote:

According to a recent story by Stephen Gutowski at The Reload, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) reported that 2022 saw 16.4 million queries run through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) that were related to firearms. While NSSF has not yet done a complete analysis of 2022 data—where it removes NICS checks that were likely not related to actual firearms sales—it is possible that the final tally will exceed 15 million gun sales for the year.

NICS background check numbers don’t represent firearm sales exclusively or correlate exactly to the number of firearms sold, but they are broadly indicative of sale trends and, by implication, the growth of the gun-owning community. Adjusted NICS data from NSSF, which subtracts transactions coded for carry permit checks and rechecks from the overall NICS figures, confirm that gun sales remain consistently strong despite record-breaking inflation.

While sales may no longer be breaking records, interest in firearms remains high. This should be a solid indication that Americans, in general, remain committed to their rights protected under the Second Amendment.

As we reported in December, strong gun sales, along with reports on 8.5% of Americans holding concealed carry permits (even as the need for such permits declines as more states enact constitutional carry), help reveal how tens-of-millions of law-abiding citizens truly feel about the right to keep and bear arms. 

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