5.5 Million Guns Bought by Americans In Early 2024

Earlier this week, the U.S. surgeon general declared gun violence a public health crisis, issuing a 39-page advisory on initiatives to prevent firearm deaths. The advisory said the rate of firearm-related deaths “reached a near three-decade high in 2021." About a third of Americans say they own a gun, Pew Research data shows. That statistic reflects the deep-rooted culture of gun ownership in the U.S. Another report found that in the first four months of 2024, nearly 5.5. million firearms were purchased in the country, USA Today reports. Texas, the second most populated state in the nation, accounted for the largest share of firearms purchased by any state, nearly half a million or 9% of all guns sold through April 2024. Data from the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) was analyzed by SafeHomes.org, a safety product review site, to determine which states had the largest ownership of recently purchased firearms.

Nationwide gun sales decreased in 2023, SafeHomes managing editor Rob Gabriele said. About 16.7 million firearms were sold in the U.S. last year, the report said, down 4% from 2022. Florida, which passed a law to allow permitless concealed carry in March 2023, saw gun sales go up 1% last year. The Sunshine State was one of only four states to see an increase, with 1,316,471 estimated sales in 2023, according to the report. But that was nothing compared to North Carolina, Gabriele said, which saw a 112% increase in gun sales after their pistol permit law was eliminated in March 2023 by the GOP-led legislature, overriding the Democratic governor's veto. The other states to see an increase in SafeHome's report were Illinois (5%), despite a new ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and New Hampshire (3%), which had no new changes in their gun laws. The states that sold the most guns last year are reflected by their population size. The top four states, Texas, Florida, California, and Pennsylvania that sold the most guns in 2023 are also the top four most populated.