by AWR Hawkins
A report from SafeHome.org indicates there were 17.4 million guns sold in the U.S. during 2022, and approximately 1.4 million have been sold each month in 2023.
SafeHome arrived at the figure of 17.4 million by examining FBI data on National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) background checks, and counting every “long gun and handgun check was counted as 1.1 sales,” while counting a multiple gun NICS check as two sales. (NICS checks conducted for concealed carry permits and other non-sale matters were not counted.)
Using SafeHome’s methodology, three states–California, Florida, and Texas–witnessed over a million guns sold, with Texas seeing the most sales.
A total of 1,063,033 guns were sold in California, 1,304,362, in Florida, and 1,452,990 in Texas.