Too often, the mainstream media can’t seem to find room, with all the Russian wild goose-chasing, to report real news. New like the record number of NICS background checks in the month of April. Much to Michael Bloomberg’s and George Soros’ chagrin, 1,004,000 of those checks came prior to gun sales. Yes, Virginia, Americans brought home another million or so shootin’ irons last month.
Indeed, Americans kept the FBI very busy in April. Some will point out that NICS checks don’t equate to guns actually sold, and that’s true. However, a look at the more in-depth reporting of the FBI’s data shows exactly how many of those checks came prior to gun sales. The balance of the checks come from states performing re-verifications, or queries related to carry license applications.
Looking at April’s report: 563,601 checks came for handguns, 375,946 for long guns, 45,929 for “other,” and 19,349 checks for my favorite, “multiple gun purchases.” In short, over 1,004,825 guns.
For those asking for clarification on the “other” category, the FBI explains it as, “Refers to frames, receivers and other firearms that are not either handguns or long guns (rifles or shotguns), such as firearms having a pistol grip that expel a shotgun shell” (think Mossberg Shockwave and the like). Their description, not mine.
Of course, the mainstream media either ignore these numbers or simply make up, well, fake news. Like CBS News’ report from March 5, 2018:
“Trump slump” for gun sales isn’t reversing
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Gun store owners called it the “Trump slump.” Sales of firearms slowed dramatically after the election of Donald Trump as president in 2016 allayed fears of a Democratic crackdown on gun owners.
That trend has continued in recent weeks even with talk of gun control in Congress and among business leaders following the Feb. 14 massacre of 17 people at a Florida high school.
In the past, gun massacres generally led to an uptick in sales as people worried about the government restricting access. But with Parkland, things are different.
Who are you going to believe: CBS or two back-to-back monthly records for NICS checks?
Anecdotally, I find my experience of the last couple months supports these numbers. I need another safe.
Your experience also supports the notion that these are not new gun owners, but merely previous owners fleshing out their existing collections.
Your comment supports the notion that you didn’t get one. Boo hoo, liberals get to suck ground instead of shooting back (when the shooting starts).
Your comment supports the notion that you live in an evil liberal POS (D) state where your ‘dear leader(s)’ hate you and don’t trust you with guns, or big sodas, or salt, or plastic bags, or . . .
Again, boo hoo. : (
“From our sample size of one, we conclude that 100% of new gun sales are to existing gun owners.”
That’s pretty good logic you’ve got there. You could probably get a job at The Trace or CNN.
If he only got a single new one last month that means the other 25 private gun owners purchased at least 1,003,999 between them. I didn’t this month so I hope 24 of you remembered to lift with your knees.
Source: Someone called 10 people at a Supermax Prison during dinner time asking how many guns they still had access to and divided by potato or something.
“Your experience also supports the notion that these are not new gun owners, but merely previous owners fleshing out their existing collections.”
Hasty Generalization logic fallacy there. In this case, you claim a single gun owner is indicative of tens of millions of gun owners.
Is there any information on the top sellers in retail categories?
I’d guess Glock 19 would be there, Taurus .38’s, small .380’s like LCP’s and Spectrums.
Mossberg 500/Maverick 88, Rem 500?
Ruger bolt actions, Savage, S&W M-4/AR-15?
The 19X and Sig 365 remain hot. And unobtainable for the most part.
What in the HELL is that woman doing holding a (Lorcin, Davis, Phoenix Arms)? The Taurus Millennium Pro behind her makes sense though… the PT111 and it’s replacement the G2C are top sellers in my shop, as is the S&W SD9ve, the Glock 43, the Walther PPQ and CCP(seriously, those don’t stick around), the Ruger Security 9 and so forth.
Taurus revolvers are a slow seller, like all revolvers are in my shop – not for lack of salesman enthusiasm, people just want pistols… most of the employees are betting the Sig p365 will be the gun to beat this summer, if my distributor would get me more…
🤠
Is it possible that the lady holding the handgun in the picture is holding it correctly since she is not aiming it at that time? Also, Is it just possible that the handgun that she is holding is the gun that she plans on using, or she is kinda hesitant concerning recoil?
This is a reply to the reply that said that I had already said that. When did I say that?
As a LGS Owner, I’ll say that sales have slowed down noticeably this month. Some of it is due to finally having good weather and the rest, well, this happens every Spring.
I am waiting on 3 guns to be released…IWI TS12…Avidity PD10…Schmeisser SLP-9…
would buy them all if they were available…
Tax return season is slowing down too.
So why is Ruger, of all companies, posting losses?
Something strange about that.
maybe they don’t have guns of interest for sale…or are selling for next to nothing profit margins…
Ruger didn’t report losses; they reported a lower income for Q3 2017 than Q3 2016.
Ruger has a good to very good option at a great price in almost every category. YoY gun sales were down last summer and fall compared to the “OMG! Hillary Clinton is probably going to be president!” days, and there was likely some over production, so manufacturing demand from distributors and retailers is down.
Someone chime in with data to support…
Firearms manufacturers sell to distributors, who sell to LGSs and other FFL holders, and then to end customers. There’s a delay between a manufacturer moving more product and a customer buying more, though it flows backwards in terms of money changing hands.
If the LGS or FFL holder buys more in a given month, their inventory drops and they buy more product from the distributor. The distributor then buys more from the manufacturer. There can be a slinky-like effect in one stop in that sequence of transactions, where either a manufacturer, distributor, LGS/FFL, or end customer sees a surplus. The Trump effect was when the end customer had a “surplus” (everyone stocked up anticipating a Hillary win), so sales dropped at the LGS level. LGS inventory was high so sales at the LGS-distribution level stalled. That then stalled manufacturers. As sales have picked up at the LGS-customer level (as reflected with the NICS data), I expect everything upstream will also pickup over time.
Because the “Trump slump” is real and obvious to anyone paying attention.
Are more guns being sold than ever? Probably. That’s because anything will sell at a price. Manufacturers and retailers are all reporting diminished revenues. So sure they are selling guns, they just aren’t making money at it.
Or at least not making as much money as they were. And to be fair, it was really good for a while there.
This is exactly the reason Remington cited in their bankruptcy, even while they were posting record numbers of sales. This last fall they were selling the Versa Max for $400. They losing money at that price point.
Fortunately, for the industry, people have wizened up to the fact that we aren’t getting any help from this Administration, and prices are picking up again.
The difference is that Re mington was strapped with debt whereas S,R&Co has almost no debt.
RGR beat Q1 estimates slightly at $0.81 but that’s down from $1.21 from 2017 Q1. Likely units sold were close but at a lower margin. Also interesting, their ‘revenues per employee’ is nearly $300K which I would have guessed was high, but industry average (leisure products) is $544K. RGR does almost everything in house though so that makes sense. Anyway, stock price is at it’s highest since last July.
Ruger has put a lot of money into growing it’s production. Including a newish factory they opened in the recent past. Maybe their tax guys have a way to save them money by showing a loss?
Don’t look at me. I did my part, but my financial situation limits me to just a couple new Rugers a year.
But, but comrade cisco kid says gun owners are old white men dying out. How could a million firearms transactions happen in one month to a bunch of old, dead white guys?
Is it possible that comrade cisco is a liar? Say it ain’t so.
We fat old white guys aren’t dead yet. Our houses are paid off, we’re collecting our tax free VA disability checks, and most of us were sensible enough to position ourselves for a reasonably comfortable retirement. We know that we’re not going to live forever so we might as well indulge ourselves with a toy or three.
Just three?
😀
Alas I can’t add to these #’s. But it’s been busy in the LGS’s I’ve frequented. I wish I had the dough to stock up. I’m OK with handguns & ammo. If Illinois bans everything I’ll jump in and spend my whole SS check😧
In short, over 1,004,825 guns.
More accurately, the minimum would be 1024174, because we can safely assume that a “multiple” gun background check includes at least two guns.
Simply speculating, but I’m guessing most of these are sales to existing gun owners. And the Trump slump is an overall decline in revenue from firearm and ammo sales. The sales are being kept artificially high due to price decreases and manufacturer incentives.
The sales are being kept artificially high due to price decreases and manufacturer incentives.
How is that “artificially” high? It’s the free market responding to an increase in the supply to demand ratio.
Yes, the prices are down because free market – they had to come down in order to keep selling them. Artificially was a poor word choice. But, it’s safe to say that if the prices were 20% higher as they were about 2-3 years ago, gun sales would be less.
I bought two guns very recently. There was no price decrease for either one, and I shopped hard.
Prices are down, generally, from prior to when Trump was elected, on many guns, but not all, I suppose.
“and Another Million Guns Find Homes”.
Thankfully those fine pieces of engineered marvels will not be left orphaned on some shelf.
See, what ha-happened was that two gun owners each bought a half a million guns. It’s been proved!
Meanwhile, if you want beginner instruction at my range so you can get your carry license, you’d better reserve a spot well in advance, because they always sell out.
You’ll appreciate the irony that the anti-gun crusaders picked up the slack Trump left behind when he won the election. It’s like they say, when a door closes a window usually opens.
What of those that have the ‘enhanced CHL’? They don’t have to have the NICS check. Many of those NICS checks may have also been for CHL’s. An even worse case of the vapors for those pearl clutchers.
The more guns sold the better the chances of Donald Trump being reelected.
Looking at the numbers for March I see my new PPQ in there.
Freedom smells so good.
Wow. In December 2015 there were 3.3 MILLION NICS checks. That gotta be a whole lot of sweet smelling freedom.
Don’t tell any one…..
The economy is going like crazy unemployment is lowest in years.
Guess what, people have more disposable income to spend.
That’s why dems want the economy in the toilet so we can’t afford more guns.
That’s fantastic however the gun grabbers told me the other day that only 25 people in America own guns. Those 25 must have a lot of guns
One needs at least one gun in each caliber to find what they like to shoot the best. The extras are for friends to try out.
All I wanna stress is ,, WE “the last of ” real AMERICANS had best hold on to our CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS like holding to a raft of a raging river rapid !!
WE have been infiltrated & are still being infiltrated ! OUR enemies are exploiting every loophole in OUR system & perverting every rule & law ! They are taking apart the executive , legislative & judicial system from within ! !
Think about it people ” repeal the 2nd Amendment ” ” really ?? We’ve heard this said , publicly !!
A president writes an executive order ” which is NOT law ” and starts a program to protect & give ( TAX PAYER ) funded college educations !! ILLEGAL ALIENS ! CRIMINALS ! The very instant they set foot in OUR nation illegaly !
New president ” righteously ” points out the ignorance & treasonous & illegal nature of that EXECUTIVE ORDER and announces intent to abolish it ! But the president is met with court orders ! Someone tell me how a court can stop a president from writing an EXECUTIVE ORDER to abolish an EXECUTIVE ORDER written by a former president ???
Republicans voting & acting as Democrats & Democrats voting & acting as SOCIALIST !!
Affirmative Action Rules for everyone except heterosexual white males !
Co-ed bathrooms for men dressed like woman to enter & expose “or worse” themselfs to OUR daughters !
Teaching homosexuality & transgenderism in public ” TAX PAYER ” funded , kindergarten & grade schools across OUR Nation !!
A person attempts to prepare & drink coffee while driving , and spills it on THEMSELVE , and a court rewards them with millions of dollars in a law suit against the Co. That sold the person the coffee !!
WE can’t have a CRUCIFIX on public land , pray to ” what ever GOD you choose ” in school !!
But perverts can dress in costumes that graphically depict vaginas , breasts & PENIS’S and parade down crowded PUBLIC streets !!
They are KILLING pre-born BABIES by the hundreds of thousands ! !
OUR government surrounds it’s self with ARMED security , metal detectors & very strict access ,, while OUR children are being shot in school , by demented individuals with guns that the LAW forbids them to have !
A United States president pays ” with TAX PAYERS MONEY ” over a billion dollar ransome to a Hostile , Volatile nation that seeks to build nuclear weapons !!
A politician is allowed to destroy government property & destroy thousands of peices of evidence in a criminal case , yet not a single charge brought against them for these crimes ! While a 19 yr old kids snaps a photo of his friends with his cell phone , on board the submarine , on which they serve , and in turn gets convicted and sentenced to Levinworth prison for 20 years !
A president gets a blowjob in the Oval office from a young intern !
A politician ( a Kennedy ) commits adultery , gets his lover pregnant , drives his lover and bastard child into a river , drowning them , leaves the scene , only to call police several hours later , to report it as an accident ! !
Said he was drunk ! Never found guilty of one crime & was elected over & over for decades in public office !!
Yet a man & his family who live in the wilderness are reported to be stock pilling guns & ammo ” which is his God givin, leagal ,CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT , gets killed by OUR Government ! !
How bad will WE let it get ?
How much stupidity will WE endure ?
How much crime will WE suffer ?
Before WE THE PEOPLE stand up and say ENOUGH !! STOP !!
WE’VE HAD OUR FILL OF THIS CRAP ! !
How long before AMERICANS SET OUR NATION BACK ON THE RIGHT TRACK ! !