A new report reveals that at least 17 million firearms were sold in the United States in the year 2022, with sales remaining at a similar pace in 2023.
As Breitbart reports, the study from SafeHome.org shows that there were approximately 17.4 million gun purchases throughout the country in 2022. This data was compiled by examining the FBI’s data on National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) background checks for firearm purchases. Every “long gun and handgun check was counted as 1.1 sales,” the report notes; an NICS check for multiple guns was counted as two sales.
Three states in particular saw over one million gun purchases each: California, Florida, and Texas, the latter of which saw the most sales of any single state. California had about 1,063,033 gun sales, while Florida had 1,304,362 and Texas had 1,452,990.
On a per capita basis, Alaska had the most gun sales, with approximately 872 guns sold for every 10,000 residents. Montana was the second-highest per capita, with 830 purchases for every 10,000 residents. Wyoming came in third in this respect, with 806 sales per 10,000 residents.
The report by SafeHome suggests an even higher number of overall gun purchases in the country than a similar report by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), which publishes annual and monthly reports on gun sales. The latest annual report from NSSF indicated that just 16.4 million guns were purchased in 2022, thus coming out to exactly one million less than the total given by SafeHome.