18 States Where Gun Sales Are Still Soaring

A recent report estimated that Americans bought close to 60 million guns during the pandemic. In the three years beginning in 2020, at least 30 million gun-related background checks were conducted in the United States each year, roughly double the figures 10 years prior and by far the highest annual total in the more than two decades since the FBI began tracking these figures.  

This May, about 2.3 million firearm-related background checks were initiated across the 50 states. This, however, does not mean that 2.3 million guns were purchased in May. Firearm background checks can be initiated for reasons other than the direct purchasing of a gun, including returns, rentals, pawn shop transactions, and rechecks, which some states conduct periodically on residents with gun permits.

Still, background checks remain the best available proxy for gun sales, and after removing some categories of checks, they provide a good estimate of trends in the American firearm market. Based on that estimate, gun sales increased by at least 2% in 18 states, with some states seeing spikes of more than 40% in gun sales and one state recording a surge of more than 70%.(also take a look at the states where the government will take your gun by force.)

To identify the states where gun sales are increasing the most between May 2022 and May 2023, 24/7 Wall St. used data from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System. To reach a more accurate approximation of gun sales, we adjusted background checks by excluding checks for such categories as pawn shop transactions, returns, rentals, and rechecks. Even after these adjustments, background checks still serve only as a rough approximation because every state has different accounting practices and background check laws. (These are the companies selling the most guns.)

The states that reported the largest increases in background checks this May compared to May 2022 include both states that tend to rank relatively low in gun sales per capita (approximated by checks per capita) each month and those that rank among the highest. Hawaii’s increase of more than 70% is substantial, but the state reports relatively few checks, even after adjusting for population. 

Still, among the states with the largest increases in checks, there are many that already had relatively high background checks per capita, and the big increase in checks in May moved the states even higher up the ranks in estimated gun sales per capita. Oregon, which had a 45% increase in background checks in May, moved from ninth to first in estimated gun sales per capita. (These are the states where the most people bought guns in May.)

Click here to see the states where gun sales are increasing.

Click here to read our detailed methodology.

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